论文Practice is more important than reading

实践比阅读更重要。互联网为人们提供了更强大的外部动力。做一件事，如果你是唯一一个这样做的人，你很难坚持，但如果你能找到其他人和你一起做这件事，你会更容易。它对所有加入的人都有积极的作用。跑步者会在网上记录他们的里程，并鼓励对方，这样就可以让其他组共同进步。

How Has Self Improvement Changed With The Advent Of Technology?

In “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” Nicholas Carr emphasized its point that deep reading is deprived from our life and instead, we are swimming in the sea of information and becoming so-called “pancake people”.

In my opinion, Internet can be a tool not only with mass information, but also with a lot more information for us to try and to practice. And the latter one counts more to be an excellent person.

In the beginning of Carr’s essay, he mentioned Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey to express his fear for the artificial intelligence (Carr 1). In the first part of Is Google Making Us Stupid, Carr described how he and other people feel for the Internet – it becomes so convenient to search to acquire knowledge while the decent habit of deep reading and deep thoughts are no longer easy to carry(3). Then examples are given to illustrate the idea that different reading and input methods would have different influence on the way we think (3). The author quoted what the CEO of Google said and analysed the impact of Fredrick Winslow Taylor’s system (5). Carr made comparisons between his own worry and the worry of Socrates when the development of writing occurs and of Hieronimo Squarciafico when Gutenberg's printing press tried to make an easier access to books(6). Last but not least, in the end of Is Google Making Us Stupid, the author expressed his worry about spreading Internet and its strong “side effects” (Carr 6).

Many people surely will agree with Carr’s point of view, including me, because we are all “victims” of overusing Internets. As smart phones, pads and a lot more smart devices are invented, access to internet is everywhere in our daily life. Thousands of students surf the Internet in the class when they were supposed to absorb knowledge; company clerks procrastinate their work because they are busy twitting; people sleep later than before once they have Wi-fi around. Working or studying are interrupted with Internet, let alone reading, as a leisure? It becomes harder and harder for people to set aside the noisy world online and do something they enjoy. The habit of getting online other than the mass information online places us in a more troublesome situation.

But the mass information online, as Nicholas Noah emphasized, is also a burden. As Internet gives us easier access to knowledge and information, it also becomes harder for us to get what we really want to know. Why do we think so? Because wherever there is mass information there are many distractions. For example, we want to buy a book so we search it online, the web will give you a list of other books and tell you that “I guess you also like these”. Then you click to find out whether the computer is right before it gives you another list. Curiosity makes the decision to click until we don’t remember what we initially want to search. People try to fight the distractions but the Internet is much cleverer to use our weakness to fight us.

So I totally agree with Nicholas Carr that Internet will deprive our joy of reading and form large amounts of distractions.

However, people are not that vulnerable to the intervention of Internet. When we begin to use a tool we may be not skillful but after a period of training and practice we may use it as we want. Internet, to modern people, is a useful tool if it is used properly. 

The vast majority of online Americans hold a high opinion of the Internet as a place to conduct the everyday tasks and pursue the everyday pleasures of life, such as checking the weather, doing their banking, communicating with friends and family, and playing games (Pew Internet & American Life Project 2).

We can put it this way: if a person is skillful in using Internet, he/she would be less vulnerable to the distractions online and try to avoid them by paying or some other methods. Things in the real life are what counts for most people even if Internet plays an important role in our everyday life. People who enjoy deep reading will use Internet to make friends who have the same habit and share their thoughts. Bookworms would find some book more accessible therefore strengthen their habit of deep reading and deep thinking. Those who don’t read in Internet Era will not read if Internet doesn’t exist at all.

Furthermore, it is more important to practice than reading. Internet provides a stronger outside motivation for people. It is hard to stick on something if you’re the only one to do so, but it will be easier to do so if you can find someone else is doing this along with you. It acts positively for all the people who join hands. Runners will record their mileage online and encourage each other, and so will other groups do. An experiment was conducted on the Kids as Global Scientists (KGS) project engages students in the study of atmospheric science through the use of current imagery and on-line communication. Results indicated that students made significant gains in weather content knowledge as measured by written assessments, and interviews revealed a high level of student motivation and satisfaction with the project (Mistler-Jackson, Songer 19). We can boldly assume that Internet, as technology develops, will become more and more useful in our process of pursuing our goals. 

To conclude, I agree Nicholas Carr’s view that Internet to some degree is making human beings stupider than before. But it’s also fair to comment him as short-sighted as he commented Socrates and Hieronimo Squarciafico, because he only see one side of the coin. Internet on the other hand is also making us smarter and more efficient than before because once we can master the tool, we can embrace a future with new ways to self improve and thus making ourselves better people.

Works Cited
Nicholas Carr, Is Google Making Us Stupid? 
Megan Mistler-Jackson, Nancy Butler Songer, Student Motivation and Internet Technology: Are Students Empowered to Learn Science?
Pew Internet & American Life Project, The Internet and Daily Life

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