The Importance Of Technology In 'The Shallows' By Nicholas Carr

Wolf states that, reading on the internet promotes a style that puts “efficiency” and “immediacy” above all else, may be weakening our capacity for the kind of deep reading that emerged when an earlier technology, the printing press, made long and complex works of prose commonplace.

In Sven Birkerts writing, “The Owl Has Flown,” Birkerts puts forth something to think about for any modern day reader. Birkerts believes that over the years the methodology of reading has changed as the technology has advanced. In the older days, people had small amounts of texts to choose from, but read them more thoroughly, and gained in depth knowledge about each book. In this day and age, the scope of reading has broadened but at the same time become shallower. He believes that we now read large amounts of materials, divulging ourselves into all sorts of different subject matter, but that we merely skim across its surface gaining no knowledge. In his opinion we have gone from vertical to horizontal depth. He deems an increase in the

As you read you build a connection with the information. Like circuits on a motherboard, each connection brings together the necessary pieces to process and store information. As you gather more information you will be able to find a deeper meaning, and with that a greater purpose. In Sven Birtkerts essay “The Owl Has Flown” he talks about vertical and horizontal thinking. Vertical thinking, where you focus on one subject. Studying it intensively, at length, becoming an expert or even master of the subject. For only with thorough analysis and examination can one gain wisdom. Whereas horizontal thinking is more the learning many things about a wide variety of different topics. Never fully gaining more than a superficial understanding. Lacking the mastery and expertise you gain with exclusive study and focus. Birkerts feels that with the increase in available knowledge that people would rather skim through information than deeply study a subject. With the explosion of the internet and the multitude of informational resources like magazines, websites, newspapers, etc. I can see how he comes to this conclusion. Birkerts also talks about the impact that our ways of gathering and dispersing information have as it casts a significant influence on our reality. He says, “For how we receive information bears vitally on the ways we experience and interpret reality” (31). I feel that there is truth to this statement. For when we take in information we evaluate what we have already

The moment we open our laptops or unlock our phones to look for answers for a worksheet we were given, or read a brief chapter summary instead of reading the novel, we automatically minimize the amount of information we could gain from the assignment and block out our own ideas. We live in a generation where ‘googling’ a difficult question is more common than legitimately trying to find a solution. Of course it is easier to not do the work, but when we don’t do it, we miss out on so much material. As stated in Source A, “…Weaver said she felt strangely drawn into the plot overview and continued on.” This source explains a situation about a student in college who show her appreciation for John Steinbeck literature, which would not have occurred if she would have merely read Spark Notes. Connecting an emotional bond to the pieces of literature we are assigned to read is one of the most beautiful experiences in the world. Unfortunately, a large proportion student will ever know that feeling. Instead, they will know Cliff Notes and Spark Notes. They will know websites that leave out vital details that help construct a book into its unique form. Source E shows an accurate example of this, as it demonstrates a web page featuring Cliff Notes, with a header at the top reading “READ LESS.” Consequently, however, we don’t just read less. We learn less

Many researches has been performed, showing a new type of reading. Many people today do not read the article or passage, they just skim the entire information given for key information.

In his article entitled Is Google Making Us Stupid?, Carr expresses his concern over the way the internet is changing our brains. Every since he started skim reading on the internet he’s lost his ability to read for a long time; “Now my concentration often starts to drift after two or three pages. I get fidgety, lose the thread, begin looking for something else to do” (Carr 314). Our minds have adapted to reading on the internet. We take in vast amounts of information in a short period of time and so anything that’s long can’t hold our attention. We are no longer to analyze and think deeply about texts because we can’t focus for that long. I definitely feel the effect of skim reading. I do read a lot but I don’t deep read. Whenever I’m trying

In “Is Google Making Us Stupid?”, by Nicholas Carr, he describes the correlation between Internet usage and common reading abilities. While informing the audience about the decreasing reading habits and the power of the Net.

The University College London, has done a few studies on this particular topic. They believe we are in the process of the mind developing a new way of in-taking information. The experiment showed the people where skimming only a couple of pages of long articles, and then would move to something else. They believe this is the new form of reading, as well as a new way of thinking. This may eventually end the process of deep

Leonard Pitts, Jr. says, "I am not alone.” He continues, “There are at least two of us who have forgotten how to read." He doesn't mean that people have forgotten how to read; rather people have forgotten how to become one with the text. There is more than one person who feels that concentration becomes blurred when the text in front of one requires full attention. Short ads and topics one finds interesting are usually easier to read than intellectual books that are imposed on one. It's a little funny, isn’t it?

The author feels that someone has been tinkering with his brain, making it change. In his essay he says, “the net is chipping away my capacity for completion and concentration” (Carr 333). Carr goes on to mention how the Internet has been a godsend tool to help him as a writer (332). He then says how it also has become the “universal medium to access information”. To support this, he cites Marshall McLuhan. He noted that in the 1960’s the “media are not passive channels of information”. It feeds us information to think about and also “tells” us how to process it. Because of this Carr explains how the Internet forces him to skim through articles instead of really concentrating and taking the time to read like he once did. Carr uses an online blogger as an example of this because he stopped reading books even though his major was literature in college. The online blogger, Scott Karp, thinks it was the way he thinks has changed not the way he reads. Another blogger, Bruce Friedman, agrees his ability to read long articles has been affected by the Web, describing his thinking as having a “staccato” quality because of scanning short passages of text on the

In Carr’s article he explains that he is a writer and the internet has become very useful to him over the years. However, he’s noticed that his attention span has shortened to where it’s difficult for him to focus on a lengthy piece of writing. Carr describes his troubles by stating that he finds himself unconsciously skimming through the text instead of thoroughly reading word for word. Carr quotes Maryanne Wolf, a developmental psychologist at Tufts University who says “We are how we read.” Wolf worries that the style

When people read they often just skim through, “Although there are virtues to skimming, the vast majority of writing tasks you will encounter in college and in the workplace require your conversancy with material you have read.” (David Rosenwasser, of Home from Nowhere:Remaking Our Everyday World for the Twenty-first Century, as Rosenwasser defines, become conversant 107).

3) People often turn to technology instead of their imagination to be entertained, which can result in a loss of important thought processes. 4) Zomorodi states, “Mann's research finds that idle minds lead to reflective, often creative thoughts”. 5) Because technology keeps our mind busy, often with menial tasks, the brain has no time to wander. 6) The

This weeks reading, by Corrie Goldman, supports the neuroscientific benefits of a close read by providing readers with preliminary results of a very spesciffic tests. In this research, subjects were asked to read a passage twice, at first they were asked to skim trough it. The second time they were asked to read "closely" as if studying for an exam. Not only were they reading but they were doing so while being scanned by an MRI machine. Results indicated that while both readings increased blood-flow to the brain, the close read had substantial difference, demonstrating that a close read requires the synchronization of various cognitive functions at one time. I support this conclusion, when I "catch" myself skimming trough important information

As I read I try to connect with the text as much as I can because I find that this makes it easier for me to remember what the text talked about later. As I read the article I began connecting with not being able to read a full book in a very long time. I used to be