Technology. The defining word of this generation and more than likely the generations to follow. Technology has been changing the world since the most basic things such as the wheel were created. In a lot of ways technology makes the word a better, much easier world to live in. However, it could be said that technology takes away a lot of things that people should do every single day, which leads to the question: how is technology making the college generation both lazier and dumber as it progresses and does more for them?

This research is incredibly interesting to me because it is such a hot topic in today's world, deciding if technology is all positives, or if it contains some negatives as well. I am also interested in this topic because technology is a major part of my everyday life in almost everything I do. It is also very apparent to me that technology has made my generation, who are currently around college age, much lazier when it comes to everyday tasks, as well as it has made us dumber, in that we are not as adept at processing information and weeding out the unimportant information because there is so much out there that it is nearly impossible for us to narrow it down to the small amount we will actually need for what we are doing. This research question affects me and my values because I am around the age of the subjects being talked about for this research topic. I see it every single day, that kids around this age are very lazy because they have technology to do almost everything for them, and they are not as sharp or knowledgeable because if they do not know something, then they know they can just pull out their smartphone and look up the answer, so it is almost not necessary for them to be knowledgeable about certain things if they have a world of information right at their fingertips. I am qualified to write about this because I am around it every day and see first-hand what technology does for this generation and how much it has change the everyday lives of people.

"Is Google Making Us Stupid?" by Nicholas Carr, which was published in 2008 in Atlantic Monthly is an article which focuses on the internet and how it might be making us stupid because it takes away our ability to process what we read as well as our ability to be engaged in reading for long periods of time. He presents the reader with several pieces of evidence, one of which being a study by a psychologist at Tufts University which says reading on the internet makes the reader a "mere decoder of information" rather than being engaged in the actual text. The major values and interests at stake in this article are people not being able to read and process what they have read for long periods of time due to the internet and social media. These things distract people and make their minds wander while they are reading which makes people hollow read, where they are just skimming it rather than actually delving deep into the text. Nicholas Carr seems to be a very credible author; he has written several books about the use of technology and writes for an esteemed magazine such as Atlantic Monthly. In this particular article he increases his credibility because he presents the reader with a study from a psychologist from a prestigious university that backs up his claim that technology hurts the ability of a reader to actually process what they have read.

Ian Leslie's article "Google Makes Us All Dumber: The Neuroscience of Search Engines" is another article in which it is pointed out that though google and other search engines have a vast amount of information to give to people, they might actually be making us less intelligent people. Leslie says in this article that search engines are good for answers but that they cannot ask the questions for us, which is what we are trying to make them do, which takes away from people's curiosity, therefore, in Leslie's opinion, making people dumber. Leslie never really presents the reader with much evidence that supports his claim, rather, he just talks about it and spends his entire article talking about his claim and backing it up with more of his opinion. The major values and interests at stake in this article are people and their curiosity to ask questions, rather than just wait for the answers, which is what he says technology is making people do because technology has brought this generation to the age of answers, and does not stress the importance of the actual question. Ian Leslie is a credible author because he has published a book on curiosity which is what this entire article is about. He could also be seen as credible because of the long list of other publications that he writes for, which is a sign that he is highly sought after for his work.

Dominique Jackson's article "Has Technology made us Lazy and Dependent?" is an article that shows the reader all of the different ways that technology has made people lazy without even realizing it because it has become so routine. His evidence is lists of things that people no longer have to do because of technology such as not going out for entertainment because of video games and Netflix, not having to know how to read a map because of the rise in GPS, the fact that people can find out how to do anything with Google, without having to figure it out themselves, and finally the fact that there are websites where a person can get a stranger to run an errand for them while they sit at home and pay someone to do things for them. The major values and interests at stake in this article are very clear: technology has made people lazy because they can either have someone do almost anything for them and they do not have to learn how to do anything the hard way because with Google, people can learn how to do anything in matter of minutes. Jackson is a credible author even though he seems to be very biased on the subject. This article is credible because he presents the reader with a lot of evidence of how people are lazy because of technology, all of which are accurate in the lives of most people. Jackson is very biased towards the fact that technology has made people today lazy and that this is a terribly bad thing.

This research topic is very arguable because it is a hot topic in today's world and it can be argued that technology makes people dumber as well as it could be argues that it makes them smarter, then the same argument could be made about people being lazy or not due to technology. The sources have all argued that technology makes people both dumber and lazier, and present evidence that these are both true. The perspective of these articles have strengthened the stance I have on the topic, I thought that technology makes people both dumber and lazier, and these articles have supported my opinion. My research question could be revised by including a bigger audience, rather than just college age kids, but the entire population.

