Kaylee Rucker College Preparatory English Argumentative Essay Analysis December 13, 2016
Argumentative Essay Analysis In the article entitled “Mind Over Mass Media,” Steven Pinker discusses his belief that technology and social media do not lower people’s intelligence. Pinker has the idea that technology actually enhances today’s world. Technology is still being used and improved upon each day. If it were not a benefit to people and their intelligence, then technology would no longer continue to be created. Pinker justifies this by saying, “Take the state of science, which demands high levels of brainwork and is measured by clear benchmarks of discovery… If electronic media were hazardous to intelligence, the quality of science would be plummeting. Yet discoveries are multiplying…” (560). Pinker uses this statement to prove that technology is only bettering people. He goes on to talk about the fact that “distraction is not a new phenomenon” (561). Social media critics tend to hold this belief that technology will take away an individual’s attention span and intellectual abilities which is not true. Technology only enhances the human mind; technology does not overtake the mind. Pinker expands on this by saying, “The new media have caught on for a reason. Knowledge is increasing exponentially...Fortunately, the Internet and information technologies are helping us manage, search, and retrieve our collective intellectual output at different scales...Far from making us stupid, these technologies are the only things that will keep us smart” (561). He uses this statement as proof that technology would not continue to be used if it was counterproductive with helping develop people’s minds. Pinker gets his point across that technology is much more beneficial that it is detrimental to the human mind.