Is the Internet Making Us Stupid or Smarter? The first video I watched was Nicholas Carr's speech on his book "The Shallows." One main idea of this video is that books and the internet are opposites when it comes to effects they have. Carr asserts that books and the advent of the word-space allowed for deeper meaning and further attentiveness to be put forth into writing and allowed for introspection. He believes that the internet is the opposite of this with the main purpose to inundate the consumer with information. Another main idea of the video is that these distractions that the internet has bring about deficiencies in attentiveness. Carr states that there are studies that point towards the internet overwhelming the brain's short-term memory and that say that this does not allow for information to be carried over to long-term memory as easily. Carr's final main idea is that while we should reap the rewards of the usage of the internet, we should also be aware of the effects that it has on our cognition. He believes that individuals should be aware of how the different ways of media consumption affect the way that a person is able to think and have certain cognitive skills. I found these points to be interesting and important because of the ideas that Carr brings to light. I believe that the internet has a profound impact that researchers are still trying to quantify. These effects can be extremely valuable to individuals and to our culture as a whole, but Carr brings up good points when it comes to being aware of how this consumption may shape your neural pathways and why that matters. People should know that different ways