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EDL 755 Personal Reflection K. Ashley - //The Shallows//

I truly enjoyed reading the book //The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to our Brain// by Nicolas Carr//.// One statement that sums up Carr’s finding is that we are being “distracted from distraction by distraction” (Carr, 119). Much of this book explored the history of print media and the impact that our internet obsession has had on our thinking.

One of the questions we are asked to consider is where the roots of this computer culture started. I thought Carr provided several excellent points in relation to when this media culture began. He started by stating that, “every technology is an expression of our human will” (Carr, 41). After cutting to the core of human nature, he took it farther by pushing those thoughts by saying, “Through our tools, we seek to expand our power and control over our circumstances – over nature, over time, over distance, over one another” (Carr, 41). These statements were very strong and made me realize that as humans we have always been seeking ways to connect and conquer other humans. There is a level of selfishness that all of us have somewhere within, technology is allowing us to find ego, information, or power to make ourselves feel perceived better than others. To clarify, there is a lot of good that comes from the dissemination of information and communication on the web. However, we must hold ourselves accountable to use this for bettering our world, and not just ourselves.

When considering how knowledge is assembled in the digital age, I think that Carr provided some interesting points in how information is acquired and processed in our brains. He says that at the core, “Our ways of thinking, perceiving, and acting, we now know, are not entirely determined by our genes. Nor are they entirely determined by our childhood experiences. We change them through the way we live” (Carr, 31). The manner in which we are living in this world has a tremendous impact on how we perceive technology and its impact. The author pulled me into considering more about the way we think when he mentioned our “staccato” way of concentrating. The book also profoundly states, “…when we go online, we enter an environment that promotes cursory reading and distracted thinking, and superficial learning. It’s possible to think deeply while surfing the Net, just like its possible to think shallowly while reading a book, but that’s not the type of thinking that technology encourages and rewards” (Carr, 116). It is humbling to think that we are allowing ourselves to be transformed into “shallow” thinkers and doers.

It is interesting to think about some of the implications for people living in this digital age. On one side we have a new set of required skills to be able to meet the needs of the 21st century. We need to be creative, innovative, critical thinkers, ready to collaborate (even if we don’t see those people we are working with or for), cross-cultural, communications focused, and good at reading and math. However, that shows a list of the more positive skills we need to be adapting to. We also need to try to be relational, focused, and less distracted. We still need to be able to read a book or computer screen for information and be able to identify the main ideas and details. The way our brains process things in the digital age may look different but in the end we still need to be able to have a personal conversation or play a board game with the people around us. I am afraid that with the “shallow” thinking, it will spill over into our educational classrooms. As we see an increase of distractibility, we will see more attention and focus issues in this younger generation, and we will have to be more diligent in communicating the importance of education.

When we look at the implications for schools, it helps to look at where we have been, where we are and where we hope to be. In looking back to print media, we can connect with Carr’s statement, “The bond between book reader and book writer has always been a tightly symbiotic one, a means of intellectual and artistic cross-fertilization” (Carr, 74). In the past we have allowed reading and printed material to “cross-fertilize” our instruction, our research, and enjoyment. Another connection of this relationship is made when Carr wrote, “‘New thought came more readily to the brain that had already learned how to rearrange itself to read…” (Carr, 76). Even our processing was easier because our brains were wired to organize thoughts and words. Now Carr says we have different focus skills when he states, “Intereactivity, hyperlinking, searchability, multimedia-all these qualities of the Net bring attractive benefits” (Carr, 91). According to Carr we are increasing our use of the internet and technologies each year, and with that we are changing the purpose and function of other medias.

Overall, I thought that Carr made some good points, and revealed some interesting truths about our human nature and how we are facing the changing technology. Even with some of the negative ways that our brains, and relationships, are being affected, Carr states, “we willingly accept the loss of concentration and focus, the division of our attention and the fragmentation of our thoughts” (Carr, 134). I am thankful for reading this book, and taking the time to think about how we are functioning as a culture around these issues.

References Carr, N. (2010) //The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brain.// New York, W. W. Norton and Company.