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The Shallows by Nicholas Carr argues that technology involving the internet is negatively altering the way we think, read, and remember. He includes studies and evidence to prove this point and explains how the use of the internet has caused us to stop thinking as deeply as we once did. Carr analyzes how the internet changes the way we think by looking into how it is addicting to us because it engages all of our senses. The internet is appealing to our reward system.
No matter what we are doing on the internet, it keeps us looking forward to the next thing. People have a fear of missing out and must stay connected at all times.
Another point Carr covers relating to the internet altering the way that we think is the idea of neuroplasticity. Over the years, a lot of research has been done that proves that the brain is not a fixed organ. The study conducted using monkeys with damages nerves found that the monkey's brain eventually healed itself and repairs the neural pathways.
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The brain is constantly reorganizing its anatomy based on our everyday tasks and the tools that we use. Carr makes it clear that even though people don’t want to believe that our experiences change the structure of our brain, it is a reality that we must deal with. This connects to the idea that our brains change in response to the tools that we use. An example Carr uses is how maps and clocks have changed the way that we think.
The tools we use reduce the neural pathways and numb whatever part of the body they amplify.
Carr also discovers that the internet changes the way that we read. Carr discovered that there is a widespread change happening in people’s brains causing us to have a harder time concentrating while reading. Frequent skimming and scrolling has left us unable to maintain focus on books and other writing. He became worried that the constant overload of information coming from the internet is causing the linear, literary mind to become old news.
Carr brings up that books might become a thing of the past as online books are growing in popularity. E-books contain hyperlinks that can direct you to Google which can be distracting and ruin the relaxation of reading a printed book. We are dismissing the intellectual tradition of reading a printed book for a life full of distractions and multitasking. A study he uses comparing two groups of people reading a short story concludes that the group that read the story without hyperlinks learned more. Carr reveals how there is a new, nonlinear form of reading taking place on the internet where people read down the page in an F shape. This is causing our deep learning to decrease.
Carr also goes into depth about Google. Google has been created to be very efficient and to easily make money off of its users. The more time we spend using Google, the more profit they make. The bottom line is that Google is money oriented. Google is an example of a tool we are using to make our brain less effective. It does this by feeding us large amounts of information at once, forcing our minds to consume a shallower amount of content. This relates to how the amount of information flooding our brains every day is detrimental to concentration and memorization.
Carr explains how the internet is changing the way that we remember by studying the difference between working memory and long term memory. The overload of information we get every day from the internet makes it hard for our brain to distinguish between important information and irrelevant information.
Later in the book, Carr analyzes a program that was created by Joseph Weizenbaum, called Eliza. He believed that we risk losing our humanity by giving computers human tasks that depend on wisdom. Carr then explains ideas of transcendentalism. After looking into studies conducted, he comes to the conclusion that “simple and brief interactions with nature can produce marked increases in cognitive control.”
In The Shallows, Carr discusses the many side effects of using the internet. His evidence supports the argument that the internet is changing the way we think, read, and remember. The internet has become a vital part of our lives at the expense of causing our brain to work less efficiently.
The Joy of Reading Print Books. (2022, Apr 01). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/the-joy-of-reading-print-books-essay
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