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The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains
In the New York Times Bestseller and 2011 Pulitzer Prize finalist, The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains, author Nicholas Carr takes the reader on an historical journey of technological inventions perceived as advancements, as he informs and cautions the reader on the implications of the latest installment of these innovations, the Internet. Carr, a writer for the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, and Wired is also the author of The Big Switch and Does IT Matter?, books which are critical examinations of information technology and its potential for detrimental effects on the general public. The Shallows argues that the information highway is leading us to a questionable destination. By providing notable examples of technologies introduced throughout history and describing the negative cultural and societal consequences of the adoption of those technologies, The Shallows encourages the reader to ruminate on the effects the Internet has had on the human brain and the resulting changes in personal and societal behaviors.
In his examination of technologies introduced throughout history, Carr provides a well-developed and balanced introduction to the sociocultural pros and cons of technological development. As Carr plods from Gutenburg's printing press to Nietzsche's typewriter, he adeptly intrigues the reader with evidence of how each new contraption spelled changes for the user. But Carr doesn't stop his treatise at the superficial observation of behavioral changes; he provides evidence of underlying physiological and anatomical changes accompanying the behaviors as he supports his arguments with scientific findings on neural plasticity. The book claims that the Internet is adversely affecting the human brain rendering the brain incapable of contemplative and reflective thought processes and creating a distracted populace. Carr maintains that "It [the Internet] is so much our servant that it would seem churlish to notice that it is also our master" (p. 4). In The Shallows, Carr makes a convincing argument that the Internet is indeed fragmenting the human brain.
In order to provide support for a well-developed argument of the negative effects of the Net on users, Carr retreats into history to extract examples of inventions hailed as having a beneficial influence on lifestyle. Carr gives the reader background on...