Nicholas Carr writes of his concerns regarding the effect of technology on people today, and while many of his concerns are valid, the extent to which can be debated. Regarding technology, writing, reading, thinking, and the internet, it is inarguable that technology has had an effect. As technology has expanded, skills such as reading comprehension and writing have diminished, yet new skills have also increased. Overtime, we have become more technologically savvy, learning to understand and use new devices that many argue enhanced our day-to-day life. So, although Nicholas Carr clearly is valid in many of his concerns, I believe that it is not a loss of highly educated and thoughtful people, but rather a change in education and thought. 

            As technology has expanded and become prevalent, new tools have emerged and transformed reading and writing all together. Tools such as spellcheck and Grammarly have completely shifted the way in which we write, as we no longer must try as hard when writing, spelling, or reading. Even in my own life, I can, and do, rely on technological tools such as spell check and Grammarly to do the work for me. When writing, I do not feel the need to continuously think about my spelling or grammar, and often write entire essays without checking these things, as I know technology will do it for me once I have finished. This has led to an overall downturn in my ability to spell and need to have proper grammar, as I no longer need to focus on these aspects while writing and can instead rely on technological devices to do it for me. Many may see this downturn in overall ability to spell and grammar as a negative, supporting Nicholas Carrs option on the loss of high education, however arguably these tools have positives as well. While it is true that grammar and spelling may have decreased, new knowledge such as computer navigation and understanding has increased. People are now able to quickly navigate different domains to check their grammar, fix their spelling, or cross reference for plagiarism, in fact every time I use a new website or app, I feel as though I learn new things. These aspects are all huge benefits, and knowledgeable skills that are essential in the technological world we live in.

            Along with the decrease in grammar and spelling, a shift in quality of physical writing can be linked towards the increased use of technology. A large example of this is in my handwriting, which has progressively gotten worse over the years. This is likely due to the shift from handwriting to primarily typing, and thus since I no longer have the need to write everything, I no longer have the need for good handwriting. While in many aspects this is a negative, along with the decrease in my handwriting has been an increase in my ability to type. Over time, I have consistently gotten more faster, and more accurate and typing and thus been able to write more and write quicker. This is extremely beneficial, as what might take me an hour to hand write can take me twenty minutes to type. Consequently, I can do more work more efficiently and debatably learn more as I no longer need to spend as much time writing.

            In the end, the effect of technology is a hard question to answer. Good and bad, there has been an effect, that point is undebatable. Yet to condemn and blame all technology, stating that it is the causing a loss of highly educated and thoughtful people is perhaps to far. Instead, one should simply shift their prospective, looking not towards what is lost, but towards what has been gained.