The Consequences of Our Choices

The Consequences of our Choices

¨The more social media we have, the more we think we're connecting, yet we are really disconnecting from each other.¨-JR(french artist) In the novel The Shallows(2010) the author, Nicholas Carr, explains the effects of technology and the impact it has had on humans as we develop. Advances in technology have had a large impact on not only the human lifestyle, but also the way in which humans prefer to receive information. The novel explores the different areas of how new technologies affect humans in different ways, regarding multitasking and distractions. It does this by showing how new technologies make us lose a little part of ourselves. Throughout the book, Carr puts forward very strong arguments, but then loses credibility with his use of fallacies in argument. There are many other sources that can be used to help prove the messages that Carr is trying to show. Authors such as Frederick Douglass, Benjamin Franklin, and Ralph Waldo Emerson all wrote their narratives to show present and future generations how literature is essential to life. With the advancements in media, you see more and more people attached to their phones. In most cases it is always bad to do something too much.

Nicholas Carr is a very known writer and was the finalist for the 2011 Pulitzer Prize. In The shallows, Carr does a great job of keeping readers engaged and drawing them into his article. Carr’s perspective throughout is that the Internet is changing the way the current generation thinks by changing the way we process information. He does a good job of arguing this idea by using relevant sources, and getting the reader emotionally involved. Although the appeal to logic seems to be rather less present than needed in his paper, it is very relatable, and he presents himself well, making himself credible with the use of sources and personal examples.

People from the new generation have forgotten about many of the great authors that have helped us learn from their experiences, and soon people will not be able to keep up with technology and will be run out. Big corporations such as Polaroid, Border, and Blockbuster have been closed due to their lack of innovation. ¨"Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower."(Steve Jobs) Without innovation and constant creativity it is very hard to compete with the newer and better things. That is why the media market is booming and has been since it began. Those companies constantly send out new products that everyone wants. "I think frugality drives innovation, just like other constraints do. One of the only ways to get out of a tight box is to invent your way out." (Jeff Bezos) Other companies that have achieved success through technology are Microsoft, Apple, and Amazon. “The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency.” -(Bill Gates)Even though Bill Gates has passed, he is easily in the conversation of the top innovaters our world haqs ever seen. Everyone wanted his first product and they continue to want the newer and better thing each and every year.

Many authors have took it upon themselves to share the issue of Illiteracy in their poems, writings, and art. Frederick Douglass was a freed slave and author of many books including his famous narrative about his life. In this narrative Douglass states that soon after being freed he could not find work due to him being illiterate. He worked in a shipyard during his early 20s and would always get yelled or scolded for not being able to read or understand the markings for where to place certain types of cargo, and he said that the only way he was able to keep that job for long was to just match up the symbols on the box with the ones