The Shallows- How Internet Is Changing The Way We Think, Read and Remember

The Shallows. How Internet Is Changing The Way We Think, Read and Remember by Nicholas Carr

Is the Internet making us stupid? In this ground-breaking and compelling new book, as incendiary as it is important , Nicholas Carr argues that the Internet is changing dramatically how we think, remember and interact.

The Shallows draws on the latest research to show that the Internet is literally re-wiring our brains. The consequences involve profound changes in the way we live and communicate, remember and socialise - even in our very conception of ourselves. By moving from the depths of thought to the shallows of distraction, the web, it seems, is actually fostering ignorance.

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Some of my highlights from the book:

“The brighter the software the dimmer the user”

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“More information can mean less knowledge”

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“Whenever we turn on our computers we’re plunged into an “ecosystem of interruption technologies”

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“ We want friendly, helpful software. Why wouldn’t we? Yet as we cede to software more of the toil of thinking, we’re likely diminishing our own brain power in subtle but meaningful ways.”

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What we’re doing when we multitask “is learning to be skilful at a superficial level”. The Roman philosopher Seneca may have put it best two thousand years ago : “ To be everywhere is to be nowhere”

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“The Net is making us smarter, in other words, only if we define intelligence by the Net’s own standards. If we take a broader and more traditional view of intelligence- of we think about the depth of our thought rather than just its speed - we have to come to a different and considerably darker conclusion”