The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains

“The Shallows” is a wake-up call. Nicholas Carr explains, in clear, engaging prose, how constant scrolling and notifications chip away at deep focus and memory. It’s fascinating and very well researched, but also unsettling—especially when you think about kids, who are exposed to this rewiring from such a young age. I found myself recognizing my own habits on every page. What I liked most: it’s not anti-technology; it’s pro-awareness. You finish with practical motivation to set boundaries (long reads, no-phone blocks, fewer tabs) without feeling lectured. If you care about your attention, learning, or your children’s brain health, this is a must-read.

The central point in Nicholas Carr's new book, The Shallows is that our brains change based on the technology we use and the technology we use changes our brains. "Every intellectual technology embodies a intellectual ethic, a set of assumptions about how the human mind works or should work" That quote sums up the essence of the book. In the case of the internet, Carr says that the sheer volume of messages and the web's very design are changing our brains away from deep thought toward more rapid response and that in that change we are losing our ability to think deeply. Carr takes careful consideration of this idea, building a case for the internet's impact on our brain over the majority of the chapters in this book. I recommend it for people interested in understanding the impact of our tools on our brains. This is as much a `brain study' book as anything. You have to read what Carr writes, which is one reason for the recommendation. As his PR machine and popular press reactions to the book are not the same as what he says. In many ways, Carr is creating controversy to drive the kind of attention the web culture craves that drives book sales and other opportunities. He wants to be as much of a force in the `shallow' internet world as in the `deep' world that preceded it. His ideas are not that radical. He does not say that we should ban the internet, or that the FDA should regulate the internet as an addictive or harmful device. This is not a technology-bashing book that his media hype or the hype around his prior books would lead you to believe. The book is a detailed study of studies rather than original research. Carr is more of a journalist than a scientist, thinker or policy maker. That is ok as he raises good points and I found the book to have two major sources of value. First, the book raises an important issue that we are responsible for our actions and our brains, not the technology we use. By pointing out the potential impact of the Internet and its applications on how we think, act and work, Carr provides a powerful reminder associated with any technology we use to the extent that we now use the web. This first point is pretty much summed up in the first and the last chapter of the book. The argument is better made in an article and if you want to get to the essence of the argument, I would suggest reading the debate between Carr and Clay Shirkey in the Wall Street Journal "Does the Internet Make You Dumber?" published on June 6th 2010. Full disclosure, I am starting Shirkey's book after I finish this review. Unfortunately Carr raises these issues without offering recommendations on how to retain those skills while still having the internet work for you. If his next book is around `going deep' then the sincerity of this work will be compromised and the whole point would then be to sell books. Second, the book is a great resource/compendium of scientific and philosophical discussions about the development of our mental tools from books to computers, their impact on the brain and society. Carr spends a whole Chapter 8, discussing Google that provides an interesting insight into the company. Prior discussions about clocks, maps and other tools are equally interesting. Its funny but in a way this book is like an annotated and bound set of edited and researched search findings. It is an ironic aspect of the book that while Carr decries Google and how it chops up big ideas; he uses the same approach in print, which is apparently ok. Overall, recommended for people who are interested in the relationship between technology, thinking and society. If you do not want to get into the depth of the argument or all the studies supporting it, then read the WSJ article, Carr's Blog or other sources. They will provide the essence of the argument, so take the time to read it in a quite place so you can think through it. This book is a one sided as it views the web as a threat and it raises more alarms than provides alternatives. This is not a policy book, but I can see people using to try to make policy. Restricting technology has never seemed to work, particularly a technology that is as ubiquitous and impactful as the web. The Shallows reminds us that these things are tools and that we can easily and unknowingly use the tools in ways that reshape ourselves. That point alone is worthwhile to understand, regardless of how you feel about the web, your attention span or society. STRENGTHS The discussion of the brain science, while going into too much detail at times, was strength of the book. I would recommend this book as a Brain Book as much as a book about the internet and society. The characterizations of shallow behavior are accurate and things that the reader will recognize. The need to check email, validate yourself externally, etc are all symptoms of the points Carr is raising and the help the reader see the issue at a personal level. Carr tries hard to keep the argument at an intellectual level. He could and sometimes does drift into other points, but by in large this is an examination of the impact of technology on our brains and the way we think. He does recognize that the web is a tool that is here to stay and that we cannot all go off into a meadow in Massachusetts to unplug. He recognizes the point but provides little advice on what to do about it. CHALLENGES Carr raises the specter of the Internet and our brains without offering concrete advice and tools to manage it. He says that he had to unplug himself by moving to Colorado, limiting email and stopping his blog. It would have been more helpful if he could have provided advice on how to continue to keep deep cognitive skills while using the internet properly as not all of us can unplug. A note William Powers's Hamlet's Blackberry offers better advice on how to manage in this world in its last few chapters, but overall book is considerably weaker than this one. The book is `conservative' with hints of elitism in its views, basically asserting that past technologies were ok because they made intellectual life better, but this one is worse because its different. Seems that the author is ok with prior technologies shaped his way of thinking but he is a little closed to the idea that others in the future may think differently. The book's argument is carried by the weight of studies Carr reviews. He is not really advancing an argument on his own as much as raising the volume by integrating evidence provided by others. It is as if Carr knows that the subject itself would not provide enough content for an entire book. Fortunately these studies and his many digressions are themselves interesting, but they add weight to the book and they are not his central argument. The book talks about Google, the Kindle, etc. But it is surprisingly silent on the issue of online education. Sure it does talk about the fact that people thought the web would be a great educational tool, but he does not talk about online degree programs - the type of work that builds deep thinking and communications skills for professional lives. Schools like the University of Phoenix are growing like crazy and they seem like an obvious point for Carr to make but he misses it. The book is repetitive with others on the subject as they all rehash arguments by McLuhan, Seneca, Socrates, Emerson, etc. These are common citations that while powerful are reaching the point of being over used.

Nicholas Carr has written a fascinating book on the effect of the internet on lives and, in particular, our way of thinking. The author’s thesis is that modern technology, especially the internet, is rerouting our brains (p. 77), changing the way we think (p. 18) and the way we read (p. 90), is designed to divide our attention (pp. 115-116, 136-143, 194) train us to multitask (pp. 113-114), and “pay attention to crap” (pp. 142). Carr contends that net reading is, by design, distracting and superficial; it seizes our attention only to scatter it (pp. 115, 118). Thus large chunks of information is gained at the expense of concentration, contemplation (p. 5), and linear thinking (p. 10). Google, for example wants to digitize all information including books (pp. 152, 163), but has designed its system such that the reader moves from site to site quickly. The more clicks the better. “The last thing the company wants is to encourage leisurely reading or slow, concentrated thought. Google is, quite literally, in the business of distraction” (p. 157). The Shallows confirms Marshall McLuhan’s now popular observation, “The medium is the message” (p. 2). That is, the internet is not just another way of gathering information, reading, or being entertained. It has become the message and is rapidly changing everything. A most interesting part of Carr’s evidence comes from scientific research regarding the brain. Many studies have been done, often in response to medical issues caused by injury, disease, and deformities, that have revealed the plasticity of the brain (pp. 24-38). Scientists have observed the brain adjusting to defects and injuries in remarkable and beneficial ways. Observed also is the ability to train ourselves to be sick, alterations in the brain circuitry and function due to addictive drugs, and intellectual decay through mental laziness or indifference (p. 35). If the brain can actually change in these ways, then it’s obvious that it will be affected by constant exposure to the internet and other distractive technology. Basically we are being trained to be distracted, to lack concentration, to be shallow and superficial in our thinking, to lose our ability to reason deeply. Our brains are now on high alert and struggle with calmness, rest and leisure (pp. 5-10, 77, 90, 115-118, 123, 127-134, 140-143, 166-168, 194, 221). With all the complexity of the brain, how strange that the author nevertheless embraces evolution (pp. 49-51). Another valuable feature of the book is tracing technology advances throughout time (pp. 17-24). This includes the history of writing and books (pp. 52-77) memory is evolving role as technology advanced (pp. 54-57), and Gutenberg’s press resulting in the expansion of reading as well as the multiplication of words (pp. 68-75). Of interest are the pioneers of the modern computer and internet, such as Lee de Forest and his audion (pp. 78-80), Alan Turing who wrote the blueprint for the modern computer in 1936 (p. 80), the “prophecy” by futurist Edward Bellamy of “indispensables” in 1889 which is the harbinger of the modern I-Phone (p.109), the founding of the web in 1990, Apple in 1977, Google in 1996 (pp. 9, 154), and the invention of ELIZA software which served as a Rogerian therapist in 1966 (pp. 202-208). Carr documents both the value and dangers that technology and the internet have brought to the modern world. He sees no turning back and no real solution to our dilemma. Technology is addictive and virtually indispensable in our culture. The closest he gets to a remedy is to turn to Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Sleepy Hollow to recommend that in our distracted technological age we need to return often to Sleepy Hollow where we can rest our brains, think more leisurely and deeply, and contemplate more slowly (pp. 166-168, 220). I found The Shallows most insightful. Only two criticisms would I register. First, being a purely secular book, God and Scripture are absent and evolution accepted, but that is to be expected from an author who does not know the Lord. Secondly, the book was written in 2010 and in some ways is already out of date. Nevertheless, for anyone interested in how technology is changing us, and in particular changing our ways of thinking, this is a helpful and interesting read. Reviewed by Gary E. Gilley, Pastor-teacher at Southern View Chapel

Esse livro precisa ser impresso em português o quanto antes! É extremamente essencial para os tempos atuais. Eu li a versão de 2011 em português e esse é exatamente o mesmo, mas com um capítulo a mais no final. Apesar de ter sido escrito em 2007-2009, o conteúdo é atual e alarmante. Nicholas nos mostra, com base em vários estudos, como a internet alterou nossa forma de pensar e agir (assim como outras ferramentas criadas no passado, como o relógio e mapa). Hoje em dia, nosso cérebro tem mais dificuldade em se aprofundar em algo, em se concentrar e em se manter focado por muito tempo. O cérebro acostumou-se com estímulos rápidos e superficiais, graças ao que a internet nos proporciona: acesso a milhões de informações em questão de segundos, de forma muito descomplicada. O último capítulo é mais atualizado e aborda bastante sobre os smartphones e suas implicações na nossa mente. É preocupante, estamos nos tornando mais superficiais e reféns desses aparelhos. Me sinto muito privilegiado em ter absorvido esse conteúdo. Mesmo não tendo inglês fluente, consegui entender grande parte dos textos. Sugiro a leitura a todos, principalmente àqueles que estão preocupados e que notaram que suas mentes estão inquietas e que não conseguem se concentrar por muito tempo.

It's a good book and I will definitely recommend it for someone who is willing to contemplate the impact of modern day technology on our lives.

Carr provides insights that seem obvious once absorbed. He talks about rowing against a growing tide of information that is overwhelming our humanity. I've often thought of social-apps and modern communication technologies as giant drag-nets catching everything in the ocean of consciousness. A form of psychic colonization, these nets of social-apps, or tides of information, catch nearly everything that can be caught. Maintaining some modicum of mental sovereignty over one's ability to think clearly and without distraction becomes more and more of a challenge. Carr's book might read like an added chapter to Scott's "Seeing like a State", or perhaps Saul's "Voltaires Bastards". In sum: a good read, and also a relief to know there are minds out there like Carr.

Un libro que va al grano. Muy buena lectura y me llego en perfectas condiciones.

Passionnante étude, très accessible et très instructive (sans tomber dans le simpliste, bien au contraire!) Je ne peux que conseiler à TOUT utilisateur des internets de lire ce livre! Comme le souligne l'auteur à de multiples reprises "Nous outils nous transforment", et l'usage très spécifique du Web engendre un usage très spécifique de notre cerveau. Le Web nous change, qu'on le veuille ou non ; autant s'informer du "comment" et avoir une conscience plus éclaircie su ce sujet.