Skimmin it

What's the first thing I do after downloading the article? I look how long it is a let out a deep sigh. I then reluctantly started reading the article and realized it was talking about me. Checking Facebook every couple paragraphs, checking my phone, and basically just not staying focused. But! 30 minutes later I have successfully finished reading the entire 8 page article "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" By Nicholas Carr. I don't think Nicholas Carr thinks Google is making us stupid, what I believe he's trying to say is that it's changing the way we think. The best way to describe why I think this is his example about when books first became widely available. People feared that they would lead to "intellectual laziness" but instead they led to so many positive things. His evidence doesn't say google is making us stupid rather it says that it's changing the way we think which isn't necessarily a negative thing.
My favorite part of the article is when he talks about reading not being an instinctive skill. I found it really interesting how Chinese people reading symbols develop different mental circuitry the same way reading short sentences instead of books will give alphabet readers a different mental circuitry.
On the other hand Chris Hedge could not disagree more. His article "America the Illiterate," while very well written, doesn't see any positives in people reading less books and more internet. He defines literacy as being able to read complex books like Voltaire. I found it troubling that Chris Hedge has absolutely nothing positive to say. His whole article is just bashing on modern America. It's basically calling Americans dumb because they would rather be entertained by the Lion King than watch Hamlet. He can't see this as a difference rather than a negative. The only connection I really saw between Carr and Hedge is they both acknowledge that there is a change in the way we read. But I think their positions on the matter are very different. While Carr doesn't really say it's positive he isn't as completely opposed to it as Hedge is.