Technology from Gutenberg to Google and the Plastic Brain: Review of Carr's the Shallows

The premise of Nicholas Carr's The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brain (2011) is that our brains are plastic, constantly changing and adapting to our experiences. The overarching theme of the chapters describes technologies from Gutenberg through Google and elucidates how new technologies of the time not only change the brain and how people think but also change societal norms. Carr (2011) begins by explaining the previous thoughts on the influence of media and technology by citing McLuhan' Understanding Media from 1964. McLuhan prophetically asserted how new media would change thinking, connectivity to others, and social norms. Carr (2011) used the example of the Gutenberg press and how the production of books made knowledge previously held only by the elite readily available to everyone. He then discussed how radio and telephone changed the way people communicated with each other. Carr (2011) and McLuhan (as cited by Carr, 2011) discuss how people, as a society, are dazzled by new technology and unaware of the insidious dangers it might possess. Carr (2011) then divulged the changes in his own brain. He began to notice difficulty reading for long stretches at a time and attributed this to the connectedness he felt when he was online and the hunger for knowledge and activity when he was not. He recounts the convenience of the Internet at his fingertips for research, banking, shopping, and communicating with colleagues, friends, and family. This in turn reduced his ability to contemplate ideas and sustain attention. The web is changing how people read, encouraging skimming and scanning for bits of information instead of reading word for word from the printed page. This fact is evidenced by Carr and others recalling how they sacrificed depth of thought for the convenience and quantity of web information. Carr (2011) warns that while neuroplasticity is a remarkable ability of the brain, it is also what makes digital technology so dangerous. If a person stops using a mental skill, the brain does not forget the skill but uses that neurologic space for other skills that are being used. Carr (2011) cites Doidge on this point, stating that neuroplasticity can "lock us into rigid behavior" (Carr, 2011 pg.41). For example, Carr (2011) describes his own behaviors of interrupting writing to answer a phone call, then an e-mail, then a text . he cannot stop responding to digital interruptions. On one hand, plasticity helps to automate skills that are consistently used, conversely; it prunes skills that are not utilized. According to Carr (2011), technology is changing the way people think. Attention spans are reverting to a more evolutionary primitive, sporadic, and shifting mode, constantly seeking new information. One implication for the classroom is children's difficulty with the quiet deep thought that Wallace Stevens wrote about when he said, "the house was quiet and the world was calm" (Carr, 2011, p. 73). The shift from books to computers to read not only changes the way brains navigate but also the amount of attention and depth of immersion this requires. E-books will be segmented and shrunk into snippets as newspapers, videos, and music have with You Tube, ringtones, et cetera. All the distractions and links increase inattention and make it more difficult to remember what was read. The Internet causes superficial reading, thinking, and learning. The net seizes attention only to scatter it, preventing deep and creative thought. Carr (2011) utilizes Small's research to indicate how rapidly the brain begins to rewire itself. Reading a book is like using a thimble to fill a bathtub, easily transferring information from working to long-term memory. The Internet uses a thimble to catch water from many faucets at full blast, only catching a few drops of water. …