The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains Updated Edition

"The Shallows"What the Internet is doing to our BrainsbyNicholas CarrThe subject of this book had a special appeal to me since I have been in the computer business since I became a Data Automation Officer in the US Air Force in 1963. My working career evolved to an emphasis on computer-graphics-based applications and spanned the next 36 years. Eleven years ago, I retired, but I continued with my computer-graphics interests.During the years when the WWW came into being, email became essentially the only written form of communication, and the "click-on-this-button-for-THE-answer" philosophy took over most on-line activity, I often wondered what the ultimate effect would be on users of such capabilities.Nicholas Carr has done a masterful job of indicating what this ultimate effect of the Internet has been and is likely to continue to be regarding human cognitive abilities.As I read through the book the first time, I was struck by how many of my own concerns and questions regarding the topics covered were addressed. In fact, after the first reading, I immediately began reading it through the second time as I wanted to remember its contents and practice the main theme of the book, which is this:Animal and human brains require a two-step process in order to learn anything:1) Short-term memory must be loaded with the material to be learned.2) This short-term content must be allowed to slowly transfer to long-term memory.3) Step 2 cannot take place if short-term memory is overloaded by distractions.4) The design of the Internet actually prevents Step 2 from ever taking place.Carr begins with an overview of some of the concepts necessary for the definition and understanding of the subsequent material. There is also an extensive section on the operating philosophy of Google. Initially, I thought that this might just be filler material to bump up the page count, since it is based on an article that he wrote for Atlantic entitled "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" Later, however, I could see that the rest of the book depends on knowing numerous concepts outlined in the Google chapter.Types of memory: short-term and long-term work in different ways. Long-term memory requires more time to become fixated. The process, thoroughly documented with the results of medical studies on both animals and people, is very well explained and gives a scientific basis for how our brains remember things.The work paralleled very closely some of my own observations and questions that I had developed over the years since the WWW has become such an influence on our lives. Questions such as what the effect of interactive-style, click on this or that link, and skim reading would have on my own grandkids are extensively covered in the text.Some of the main points that make this work so valuable are:* True concentration is nearly impossible on the Internet. It is designed to be used to jump all over the place. We quickly learn to skim-read, which actually results in not reading at all. This effect limits what our brains can retain because of the requirement that our brains perform a transfer from short to long-term capability, a process that takes time and is hampered by interruptions generated by the way the Internet functions.* More information can mean less knowledge.* Bare Bones solutions cause users to develop better focus. More dependence on explicit guidance from software programs results in an overall reduction in learning.* Reliance on computer-based knowledge-access schemes may result in initial speed up of certain tasks but there will be less retained knowledge that can be applied to future problems... i.e. knowing which button to poke to get the answer is NOT the same as knowing the answer!* A paradox exists regarding software that supposedly aids our WWW activity: in order to be competitive, software systems must "do more stuff." However, the long-term use of such systems is that the user becomes less capable.* Information-filtering tools such as search engines tend to serve as amplifiers of popularity. The "hit count" quickly becomes the measure of relevancy and has nothing to do with underlying accuracy or importance of the material.* More and more automation of the work of our minds is that we cede control over the flow of our thoughts and memories to a powerful electronic system, resulting in a slow erosion of our humanness and our humanity.* On-line-based activity allows no time for contemplative-based decisions. It alters the depth of our emotions as well as our thoughts.Simple, walk-in-the-park-type activity after extensive exposure to new material results in greater retention or actual learning of the material. We, as humans, must remove ourselves occasionally from taxing our working memories when processing streams of bottom-up distractions, such as those offered by on-line activity.I am convinced that the ideas contained in this work ought to be promulgated, to WWW users and especially to educators and parents, so that current users are alerted as to some of the long-term effects of too much dependence on instant "knowledge" and what it does for our humanness."The Shallows" not only pulls together many diverse ideas and scientific results from the past, it offers ways in which we can hopefully influence the future development and use of our ever-more-connected environment.I highly recommend this book.Ross F. Housholderemail: [email protected]

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.STRENGTHSThe 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.CHALLENGESCarr 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.