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The Shallows
The Shallows: How the internet is changing the way we think, read and remember | Nicholas Carr
30 posts | 44 read | 35 to read
In this ground-breaking and compelling book, Nicholas Carr argues that not since Gutenberg invented printing has humanity been exposed to such a mind-altering technology. The Shallows draws on the latest research to show that the Net is literally re-wiring our brains inducing only superficial understanding. As a consequence there are profound changes in the way we live and communicate, remember and socialise - even in our very conception of ourselves. By moving from the depths of thought to the shallows of distraction, the web, it seems, is actually fostering ignorance. The Shallows is not a manifesto for luddites, nor does it seek to turn back the clock. Rather it is a revelatory reminder of how far the Internet has become enmeshed in our daily existence and is affecting the way we think. This landmark book compels us all to look anew at our dependence on this all-pervasive technology.
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Vivlio_Gnosi
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Pickpick

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Highly recommend this #nonfiction look at what technology does to the physical state of our brain. How does media, the web, and social media physical alter our brain? Carr explains the #scientific effects. He also explores the trade offs we make by using technology.

RamsFan1963 I remember reading this, it especially stuck with me about how your brain gears up when you're online, then gears down when you're reading. I find it hard to switch gears to read if I've been on social media too long. 1y
Vivlio_Gnosi I feel the same way! 1y
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Vivlio_Gnosi

The internet wasn't built by educators to optimize learning.

#nonfiction #education

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Vivlio_Gnosi
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paulfrankspencer I imagine "deep" is doing some heavy lifting there. 1y
Vivlio_Gnosi I imagine you're correct. 1y
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Gadzooks_Bazooka
Pickpick

A good book that takes an even handed and sober approach to the subject. The author has a bit of a liberal bias that left me wishing that someone with an anti-capitalist viewpoint would write a similar book.

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Thndrstd
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Pickpick

Finally read this 10 years after its publication. Starting with the ideas of McLuhan (the medium is the message), Carr looks at the history of reading & the scientific understanding of how we think to examine the way our brains may be rewired by the Internet. It's not all bad news, but for those who like slower, deeper thinking, the Internet is a curse with its endless links & grabs for attention. Still an interesting and worthwhile read.

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Pavlyukovskyy

Paper was historically very expensive

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Kshakal
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OriginalCyn620 Pretty! 👌🏻📚🎶 5y
CocoReads One of my favorite songs! 5y
35 likes2 comments
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Kiruthika
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parasolofdoom
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Pickpick

Full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1540111286

I had a couple very small issues but for the most part this gave me A LOT to think about.

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parasolofdoom

This is really interesting so far! I'm at a chapter about ebooks (ironically the form I'm reading this in) and it's slightly outdated as it was published in 2010.

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parasolofdoom
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Just a couple chapters in but I'm fascinated. The second chapter concentrated a lot on the way the brain itself works and usually a lot of scientific explanations leave me completely lost but I'm engrossed. Don't get me wrong, a lot of it is still above my understanding but it's given me a lot to mull. Enough that I'm taking this book slowly and taking breaks between chapters with other things.

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parasolofdoom

I'm ashamed at the irony that I started reading this tonight but am so mentally distracted (it was one of Those Days with the toddlers) that I keep talking on FB to my mom friends instead 😩.

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Gina
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Pickpick

Well written, researched and completely captavating. I enjoyed the thoughtful way the author laid this book out. There is a lot to digest so I may have to read it again to catch the things I missed. As our society marches toward a new evolution this is a must read for everyone.

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pocketmermaid
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And now it's time to do some reading for class ...

Sydsavvy Oh now that's a good one! 7y
pocketmermaid @Sydsavvy Have you read it? I'm enjoying it much more than I thought I would! I sort of hate books and think pieces that talk down to me about tech usage, but this isn't like that at all! 7y
Sydsavvy Yes I read it when it first came out. Saw a review in The NY Times I think. It's got some good truths in it. 7y
valeriegeary I love this one! Might have to read it again. 7y
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ptkpepe98

The development of a well-rounded mind requires both an ability to find and quickly parse a wide range of information and a capacity for open-ended reflection.

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ptkpepe98

The very act of remembering, explains clinical psychologist Sheila Crowell in The Neurobiology of Learning, appears to modify the brain in a way that can make it easier to learn ideas and skills in the future.

💕 this! I can use this to help my students learn.

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ptkpepe98

So...if my books to be acquired (nevermind read) is already 35 items long,

1) do I have a problem?
2) should I stop now?
3) should I quit my job and just open my own dang bookstore so I can at least get a discount on these beauties?

😁📖📕📑📔📚

BookishMarginalia That's how you know you are a Litten! 7y
ptkpepe98 I'm not sure my home or wallet can take this! It's only been two months since I discovered Litsy. I love it, obviously! So many great people, books, events... 7y
Desha 😂😂😂 I just keep buying my books....#nevertoomanybooksnotenoughbookshelves is my motto 😜. Plus here on Litsy I've learned that I can also #blameitonlitsy and even get away with #blameitonmrbook!! So I have a clear conscience lol! 😜😉😂😍❤️📚☺️👍🏻👍🏻 @mrbook @bookbabe (edited) 7y
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ptkpepe98

Because language is, for human beings, the primary vessel of conscious thought, particularly higher forms of thought, the technologies that restructure language tend to exert the strongest influence over our intellectual lives.

As I thought about this in the context of the 2016 elections (not making any political comment), I realized the truth in this statement, especially in regards to lies, misinformation, etc. Very, very scary.

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Saljjinkoyangi

The human brain is far lovely and complicates than google's pinched conception of it. - one of my favorite takeaways

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ptkpepe98

"The technology of the map gave to man a new and more comprehending mind, better able to understand the unseen forces that shape his surroundings and existence." p. 41

I have never, ever thought of a map as anything other than a way to get from point a to point b. Yet, as Carr notes, it was an extraordinary development.

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GoneFishing

What the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation. Whether I‘m online or not, my mind now expects to take in information the way the Net distributes it: in a swiftly moving stream of particles. Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words. Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a Jet Ski.

Suet624 I was already depressed this morning. This is adding to it. 😕 7y
rachaich This is so true. And it is more apparent in younger people (remembering a conversation had with my teens) 7y
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ptkpepe98

Bottom of page 35. As I read this, I wondered if you never (as an adult) "used" your "skill of intellectuality," is there ever an age at which it becomes too late? I don't think so, barring some trauma, but I don't know. Fascinating.

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ptkpepe98

"Our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts." quoting Nietzsche, on p. 19 of the book

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ptkpepe98

Carr wrote that he felt lost editing on paper, that it had to be done on a screen. I was born in 1959, too, and began working on a TRS80 with 8" floppy disks. So I've been through a similar journey, although I am not a writer.

I still print and edit the paper, though. I did this all the way through my business career, then my back to school to get a degree days, through my masters +18.

Still do it with my syllabi and addenda. ? my paper.

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ptkpepe98

"The deep reading that used to come naturally has become a struggle."

I don't struggle with this at all, but it never occurred to me that it might be one of the problems my students had - and didn't know was a problem for their comprehension.

So, thanks, Mr. Carr. I now have another question to use when working with my students to help them improve their comprehension. Each has different challenges, and I need to tailor the teaching.

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ptkpepe98

"...and the latter bemoaning a new dark age of mediocrity and narcissism."

My first thought, after reading this sentence? Were the net skeptics right, viewed through the lens of the 2016 election cycle? Maybe I've become a net skeptic. If so, that saddens me, because it is so powerful for so many good reasons, especially education.

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GoneFishing

The Net‘s interactivity gives us powerful new tools for finding information, expressing ourselves, and conversing with others. It also turns us into lab rats constantly pressing levers to get tiny pellets of social or intellectual nourishment.

Mamashep So true! 8y
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Ellsbeth
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#septphotochallenge - Non-Fiction Love. Since I teach history, I actually have a whole office filled with non-fiction. This is actually my non-fiction TBR at home. #somethingforsept @TheSpinecrackersBookClub @RealLifeReading

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BookNerd1975

"Calm, focused, undistracted, the linear mind is being pushed aside by a new kind of mind that wants and needs to take in and dole out information in short, disjointed, often overlapping bursts—the faster, the better."

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