Internet's Firm Grip

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In this era of paperless media, it has become the norm to receive brief excerpts of news through social media outlets and other digital sources; as a result, we have developed shorter attention spans and suffered from it. With the rise of shorter, easier articles along with the use of advertisements, hyperlinks, and recommendations it has become nearly impossible to stop our slowly dying appetite for in-depth information. Nicholas Car, technology author and Harvard graduate, brings attention to this growing predicament in his essay “Is Google Making Us Stupid?”. As Carr noted the tricks internet publishers use, I came into realization that I had also fallen victim to the internet’s firm grip, that keeps us online. To further prove that Nicholas Carr’s warning should not be taken lightly, I logged onto Gentlemen’s Quarterly’s website and kept track of all the seductive ploys used in hopes to keep me on their site.

Nicholas Carr, an author known for his articles concerning technology, addresses the effects of the internet on the human mind in his essay “Is Google Making Us Stupid?”. Carr begins his essay by alluding to HAL, a movie character from A Space Odyssey, and compares himself to HAL. He states that, like HAL, he can feel his intelligence slowly being drained by his frequent use of the internet. He goes on to state that although the internet has allowed him to save handfuls of time while researching for a paper, it has been at the price of his attention span that is beginning to deteriorate in front of his eyes. Carr continues to reminisce the days in which he was “a scuba diver in the sea of words”, but now he merely skims “the surface like a guy on a Jet Ski.” (333). He supports his statement with examples of articles on the internet beginning to shorten in order to allow potential readers to receive the information as swiftly as possible without becoming disinterested. Carr maintains a firm stance for the remainder of his essay in attempt to warn us of a fate filled with diminishing attention spans as information becomes briefer each day. Nicholas Carr concludes his essay by revisiting his allusion to HAL as he reminds us that our intelligence might someday become artificial.

Immediately as I entered GQ’s website I was greeted by a barrage of articles to choose from. Almost every article was accompanied by a photo that used advertising tactics such as the social status approach (the use of celebrities to lure an audience) and sex appeal. On the top of the site sat links, that would escort a visitor to articles that revolved around a single common subject. As I scrolled down I was informed of what articles were trending, the topic of the week, and the best articles that were picked by GQ’s staff. Along the way I was also offered several opportunities to sign up for their digital newsletter and physical magazine. GQ also provided a large link, bigger than any link to a written article, to their GQ video website that catered to those who do not prefer to read. Lastly, lying on the sea floor of the GQ abyss lived links to all of their social media outlets, contact information, job offerings, GQ sites from around the world, and sister sites.

Following my review of their front page, I began to click through their articles. Within each article hid a pop-up ad begging readers to subscribe to GQ’s newsletter once again. After I politely declined their offer countless times, I noticed that their articles came in a wide array of different formats ranging from layouts that immediately provided the wanted information to layouts that acted as clickbait in attempt to have you go through several pages to complete an article. Every article page would be infested by share buttons for Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. Unlike the share buttons on the front page, the article pages’ share buttons had crept up from the bottom of the site and made a home on every single photo in the article. Within each line of the article, hyperlinks glowed like a neon sign in the dark of night as “they propel you towards them” (Carr 333). The remainder of an article page would be consumed by