ipl-logo

The Shallows: What The Internet Is Doing To Our Brains By Nicholas Carr

508 Words3 Pages

Society's perception of the world has changed as a result of the new options provided by digital technology. In his book The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to our Brains, Harvard-educated writer Nicholas Carr analyzes how contemporary technologies are affecting how people think. He offers insight into the psychological ramifications of each technological advancement throughout history and how culture has influenced how society goes about its daily business. In order to demonstrate how negatively digital technology is affecting our brains, he contrasts its impacts with those of earlier technologies like reading, writing, books, and calculators. Due to their over-reliance on the internet, people have allowed themselves to become cognitively …show more content…

It is not a natural process that humans visually interpret symbols to have significant meaning. It was developed to lessen some of the burdens on early firms by keeping records of financial transactions to avoid forgetting crucial information. Carr uses this data to demonstrate how even the first inventions changed how human minds formed connections, supporting his claim.When talking about the earliest ways to write, he claims that even seemingly insignificant actions like ascribing meaning to symbols led to the development of vital neural pathways that linked the visual cortex to other regions of the brain in order to help people recognize every shape, which has been shown to significantly increase the number of connections sent and received in the brain. Carr writes, "Interpreting even such rudimentary markings required the development of extensive new neural pathways in people's brains, connecting the visual cortex with nearby sense-making areas of the brain" (52). People started to get smarter and thought more deeply as reading and writing skills improved because their brains had been conditioned to handle billions upon billions of connections. These technological developments benefited society and contributed to the general population's mental

Show More
Related

  • The Internet In The Shallows By Nicholas Carr

    195 Words  | 1 Pages

    The Net is the most powerful tool that exists, it is mind-altering technology and without it, people think they are not able to reach their full potential, but people are losing their social skills in the process, The Shallows by Nicholas Carr. In the book, The Shallows, the author explains how the internet is ruining our minds Carr explains how the internet is mind-altering technology. The internet pollutes our society.

    Read More

  • Summary Of Pearls Before Breakfast By Nicholas Carr

    1263 Words  | 6 Pages

    He states that the way we read on the internet is changing the way we think and making us less contemplative. Similarly, in “Pearls before Breakfast”, Weingarten notes that “the explosion in technology has perversely limited, not expanded, our exposure to new experiences.” We live in a time when technology can be used to replicate reality, augment reality, and create virtual reality. Technology obviously has its place, but at the same time, it can be potentially suffocating and suppressing. It is common knowledge that a significant number of people waste countless hours, forfeiting vocational and academic achievement due to digital distractions that have little or no lasting

    Read More

  • Summary Of Is Google Making USupid By Nicholas Carr

    162 Words  | 1 Pages

    In his article, “Is Google Making Us Stupid” (2008), Nicholas Carr argues that the use of the internet has affected human beings to process information. For example, reading in front of a screen and reading a printed book is not the same thing. Carr supports his assertion by his own and others experiences reading and searching information online and viewing how it has negatively shaped their ability to read long texts. He states that he cannot concentrate reading a long piece for a certain amount of time without losing focus. His purpose is to is to warn the internet and technology users of the adverse mental effects that these devices have on individuals.

    Read More

  • Summary Of Is Google Making USupid By Nicholas Carr

    313 Words  | 2 Pages

    In his essay “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” Nicholas Carr argues that the internet has been changing the way of human cognition. He supports his argument by emphasizes the negative experience that the readers are difficult to focus on deep reading when they read online. In addition, he illustrates the professionals’ studies and explanations of how new technology influences the internet users’ cognition. He concerns that artificial intelligence has slowly changed and has controlled human brain activity.

    Read More

  • Summary Of Is Google Making USupid By Nicholas Carr

    605 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Nicholas Carr’s news article. “Is Google Making Us Stupid?”(2008), he expresses his concerns on how technology is changing the mental abilities of our minds. The author first provides anecdotal evidences by giving relevant quotes from reputable sources, he then introduces notable historical events as examples for his claim, and to conclude he challenges his readers to rethink their views of the internet. His purpose is to inform the reader on the altering effects of using technology. He seems to have a younger, tech savvy audience in mind because they are an easy group of people to connect with, since they are exposed to technology more than others.

    Read More

  • Summary Of Is Google Making USupid By Nicholas Carr

    430 Words  | 2 Pages

    In “Is Google Making Us Stupid” Nicholas Carr Provides his theory on how the internet is having a negative impact on the way people think and process with their brains. Carr states that, “I think I know what’s going on. For more than a decade now, I’ve been spending a lot of time online, searching and surfing and sometimes adding to the great databases of the Internet.” (409) Carr simply puts it out there that we as human beings spend way too much time on our computers, tablets, phones, and other handheld devices that seem to chip away at our brains. Spending a lot of time online seems to sometimes make us “zombie-like”.

    Read More

  • Summary Of Is Google Making USupid By Nicholas Carr

    647 Words  | 3 Pages

    Carr is worried about technology and the effect that it has on the human brains. The essay provides a list of advances that show that change always brings this worry, but it does bring change. Carr does state that some of the changes are beneficial, but people should still worry about them. Nicholas Carr is right when he says that the internet is affecting us by making people’s attention spans shorter and is also affecting critical thinking skills.

    Read More

  • Rhetorical Analysis Of 'Is Google Making USupid?'

    1367 Words  | 6 Pages

    The internet has a lot of control on the way we think, while some are positive and some are negative. In “Is Google Making Us Stupid,” Nicholas Carr talks about how the internet shapes the way we read. The purpose of “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” by Nicholas Carr is to bring light to how the internet is changing our brain’s behavior and function. He does this by using anecdotes, scientific studies, and historical evidence throughout his article.

    Read More

  • Nicholas Carr The Shallows Summary

    634 Words  | 3 Pages

    Nicholas Carr’s book, The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains explains the ups, but mostly downs of the Internet and how it affects our thoughts and actions. The Internet has caused people to become less concentrated, as well as more “hungry” for more information. Carr makes it very clear that he has experienced these common side effects ever since he started using the Internet, and so have I. This is an important and pressing issue that

    Read More

  • Review Of The Shallows: What The Internet Is Doing To Our Brains By Nicholas Carr

    468 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains is a non-fiction book written by American writer Nicholas Carr published in 2010. The book follows Carr’s argument that the invention of new technology leads the networking of the brain to significantly change, lowering our attention span and concentration. Carr’s novel became a finalist for the 2011 Pulitzer Prize in General Nonfiction. Carr utilizes chapter two of his book to explore the history of theories of the brain relating to the topic of brain plasticity. He starts the chapter by introducing Friedrich Nietzsche, who suffered various health problems relating to an incident where he fell off a horse.

    Read More

  • Nicholas Carr's Essay 'Is Google Making USupid?'

    471 Words  | 2 Pages

    He notes that the development of writing and the printing press led to significant changes in the way people thought and communicated. By comparing the internet to these historical developments, Carr suggests that the digital age is simply the latest iteration in a long line of technological advances that have fundamentally altered human cognition. In addition, Carr appeals to expert testimony to support his argument. He cites studies and quotes from prominent neuroscientists and researchers who suggest that the internet may be negatively impacting our ability to concentrate and process information.

    Read More

  • Is Google Making USupid By Nicholas Carr

    648 Words  | 3 Pages

    Reading is harder, focusing is difficult, books are a thing of the past. In an intriguing article “Is Google Making Us Stupid” Nicolas Carr explains how the internet is affecting people’s cognitive ability to function. Since the creation of the internet, information has become more readily available, but at the cost of the human brains cognitive ability. Carr states that artificial technologies have an effect on the brains cognitive ability because its causing us to change our habits for the artificial technology. He writes about Friedrich Nietzsche a writer “[who’s] vision was failing, [who couldn’t keep] his eyes focused on a page [without it] becom[ing] exhausting and painful” (Carr 3).

    Read More

  • Essay On The Shallows By Nicholas Carr

    574 Words  | 3 Pages

    Over generations and generations the world has seen many changes that has impacted the world and the lives of people. Some of those changes include the printing press, computers, and the smartphone. Have you ever realized that the internet might be affecting your brain? Well Nicholas Carr thinks the internet is bad and has an impact on our brain. In the book The Shallows by Nicholas Carr he claims that over many generations new technology has been created and it has been affecting our brains.

    Read More

  • Nicholas Carr's Essay 'Is Google Making USupid?'

    492 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Influence of Technology In the essay, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” Nicholas Carr argues that utilization of the internet has an adverse effect on our way of thinking and functioning in everyday life. Whether it be reading a newspaper, or scrolling through Facebook, internet media has forever stamped its name in our existence. Carr explains to us that the internet is a tool used every single day in today’s society, but also makes most of us complacent with the ease of having the world at our fingertips.

    Read More

  • Nicholas Carr's Analysis

    434 Words  | 2 Pages

    Our way of thinking is beginning to change to the way that computers do. Advancements are made everyday. These new advancements are attempting to make life in general easier for everyone. Nicholas Carr makes the claim that, “as the internet because our primary source of the information it is affecting our ability to read books and other long narratives.” Carr suggests that using the internet is altering the way that our minds operate.

    Read More

More about The Shallows: What The Internet Is Doing To Our Brains By Nicholas Carr

Open Document