The Shallows Book Report

Nicholas Carr, the author of The Shallows, wrote his book to convince further society that the internet is having an adverse effect on their brains and how they are receiving information. His major thesis for the novel was expressed when he exclaimed, "...the Internet controls what we think and the process in which we think because with its efficiency and speed, we are formulating all of our thoughts through the speed of the internet rather than through the speed of our mind." Throughout the novel, Carr discusses multiple reasons on how we have changed to depend on the internet. As well as how we have let go of older versions of technology and methods of learning because they seem insufficient compared to the internet. Carr was very biased

A huge beneficial effect of the Internet is time-efficiency because it no longer takes days to find research. Fortunately, it only takes a couple of minutes to do a few Google searches. Another benefit to the Internet, in comparison to the last example, is that it is a channel for most of the world’s information. For Carr, as for others, the Internet is becoming a universal medium. Lastly, it is probable that we may be doing more reading today than we did in the 1970s or 1980s, when television was a choice of interest. It is assumed that we may do more reading today because not only do we have access to a variety of texts, but also a numerous amount of ways of communicating. For example, social media accounts and text-messaging. A negative effect of the Internet is that it is chipping away capacity for contemplation. The Internet is

With the rise of technology and the staggering availability of information, the digital age has come about in full force, and will only grow from here. Any individual with an internet connection has a vast amount of knowledge at his fingertips. As long as one is online, he is mere clicks away from Wikipedia or Google, which allows him to find what he needs to know. Despite this, Nicholas Carr questions whether Google has a positive impact on the way people take in information. In his article “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” Carr explores the internet’s impact on the way people read. He argues that the availability of so much information has diminished the ability to concentrate on reading, referencing stories of literary types who no longer

Carr mentions his personal experience with technology and how it has affected him. He points out his “concentration often starts to drift after two or three pages” (961). Carr isn’t the only one who has been affected by technology; he tells us that even his “acquaintances” have had similar experiences. His acquaintances say, “The more they use the Web, the more they have to fight to stay focused on long pieces of writing” (962). What once used to come natural to us has become difficult. People used to rely on books for multiple reasons when it came to research but now that technology has been used more frequently books are not that common. Carr says “Research that once required days . . . can be done in minutes” (962). Carr is mentioning the benefits of the Internet, for his argument he is using both sides so that the reader can relate to his article and understand where he is coming from. Carr quotes Marshall McLuhan when he points out that “the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation” (962). Although fast research is great and easy to access it has its flaws. Carr mentions that

In his article “The Shallows”, Nicholas G. Carr explains to his readers how reading & writing came to be, it 's effects on the brain, and what both Plato and Socrates thought about the subjects.

It is true that people are becoming more and more reliant on the internet to do everyday tasks. I feel that Carr addresses the issue perfectly in his article “Is Google Making Us Stupid”. If we continue to use technology for everything, we will eventually lose all ability to deep read and make those critical connections that are necessary for true comprehension and application. He indicates that “the more [he] uses the web, the more he has to fight to stay focused on long pieces of writing” (736). Knowing how difficult it was to read and analyze Carr’s article myself, I fully agree with his claims. Having grown up in a world that has always had technology, I must be hyper-cognizant of the task at hand when it comes to something such as reading, particularly if it is something that I deem less than interesting. When I was finally able to get through the entire essay, I started to think about how much I use the internet. I must admit that

Browsing the internet contrasts sharply with reading from a book. The internet is not intended to be read; it is meant to be scanned hastily for relevant information. In Nicholas Carr’s book, The Shallows, Joe O’Shea, a Rhodes scholar, writes that reading books “is not a good use of my time, as I can get all the information I need faster through the web” (Carr, 9). O’Shea believes books are “superfluous” because of the efficiency of the internet (Carr, 9). They must be read carefully in order to find relevant information, but the internet allows one to, “cherry-pick the pertinent passages using Google Book Search” (Carr, 8). Carr writes, “we’re no longer guided toward a deep, personally constructed understanding of the text’s connotations” (166). Internet users do not have to think deeply about the meaning of an online text

This is accomplished through the use of anecdotes. Carr opens up by quoting a 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, in which an artificially designed supercomputer (HAL), intended to good for the astronauts, but in the movie, HAL goes on a murdering spree killing the astronauts it was intend to help. The anecdote puts Carr argument into perspective, as the reader is emotionally attached and feels that Carr might be on to something. Following this anecdote, Carr gives out facts of how “someone has been tinkering with [his] brain” ( Carr 91) and how “Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation” (Carr 92). The mix of antedates and facts paints a complete picture within the readers head, similar to the movie, that although the internet is a godsend we should not whole heartedly rely on the internet without knowing the effects on our brain down the road. Furthermore, toward the end of the article, Carr uses dark lungs to further instils fear in his article as he is “haunted” (Carr 101) and “afraid” (Carr 101) “as we come to rely on computers to mediate our understanding of the world” (Carr 101). By Carr using a mix of anecdotes and facts in his article, he makes a connection between the film and the internet; as he is not wanting the intellectual ability of our generation to decline as our brains evolve to face the

Nicholas Carr’s article is directed to an audience that should realize Google and today’s technologies are hindering our societal progress. Carr proposes that reading online is less thought provoking than reading an actual book. In his opinion the Internet was created to distract us, therefore, changing the way we think. Carr suggest that the value of reading online is associated with efficiency and information gathering rather than knowledge and understanding. To support his claim he references blogger, Scott Karp, who admits to having stopped reading books all together. Karp states that his reason for reading online is “I’m just seeking convenience.” (511) Carr goes on to argue that we read online because we feel the need to be efficient.

The general argument made by Nicholas Carr in his work, From the Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains, is that phones and social media has taken over, and that’s about all our generation relies on in today’s world. More specifically, Nicholas Carr argues that the internet is distracting us from our day to day work, and human interaction. He writes, “I do most of my banking and a lot of my shopping online. I use my browser to pay my bills, schedule my appointments, book flights and hotel rooms, renew my driver’s license, send invitations and greeting cards” (Carr par. 3). In this passage, Nicholas Carr is suggesting how the internet is taking over more and more of his life, and how technology is changing his daily tasks, and how

Over the past two weeks, I have been reading The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains by Nicholas G. Carr. In the book, the author discusses the various effects of the Internet not only on our minds both physically and mentally, but also how it affects our race's actions and behaviors. I have spent the past two weeks reading this book, and I finished reading 280 pages in 325 minutes. Like the previous book I read, I chose this book because the subject was something that I haven't really explored before in other books that I have read, and my goal is to try to read at least a book every two weeks, When reading this book, I sometimes found myself confused, for reading about the brain's structure and how it functions wasn't something

Nicholas Carr’s article was directed to an audience that needs to realize how Google and technology is instead of helping society progress in a positive direction, it’s actually hindering us. He claims that reading online is less thought provoking than reading an actual book and he believes that the Internet was created to make us distracted and therefore changing the way we think. Carr claims that the value of reading online is associated with efficiency and information gathering rather than knowledge and understanding. To support his claim he uses Scott Karp, who admits to have stopped reading books all together. Karp says that his reason for reading online is “I’m just seeking convenience.” Carr argues that we read online because we feel

For many people the internet is something that is always there. But for many other people, the internet isn't available to them. The internet has led to many advances that are necessary to understand what is going on in our world. Countries in the picture below that are shaded in lightly, don't have as much access to the internet as we do, and they grey is none at all. Governments try to censor the internet, which is what happens in North Korea, but most others just do not have access to it. Internet access is a privilege that everyone should have because it connects us with our world. The Internet is something that is in my everyday life and I rely on it for everything.

Carr’s main contention is that the reading culture is slowly being eroded by reliance on the web. He points out that he no longer thinks like in the past when he could immerse himself in a book or a lengthy article easily; currently, his concentration drifts away at the onset reading. “I get fidgety, lose the thread, start searching for something

On a weekly basis, we spend 80 hours on the internet. Based on how much we spend on the internet, we should take care of ourselves and not lose our personalities. The internet has changed us in many ways, but it has pros and cons to the users of the internet. The internet helps students, teachers, and doctors and give ways to save money. Typewriters were used 100 years ago because there was no internet, but with internet now we change our culture and society. The invention of the internet was a turning point in history because it resulted in an influence on morality, education, civic engagement, and the economy.