The Shallows book reflection

The Shallows

Reflection

A couple days ago a few colleagues and I started a conversation about cell phones and what they are capable of doing now days. Most around the table possessed the high end, do everything except the dishes phone and felt they could not live with these features. At one point in the conversation I was asked pointedly about the apps my phone had. With a Cheshire grin I replied, my phone is ten years old and does exactly what I need it to do – talk to people.

Now do I believe me getting additional apps on my phone will compromise my ability to learn, understand or consolidate information as Carr suggests in his book? No! But I do believe our conversation is connected to the larger piece Carr was trying to get out in his book – have the Internet and other technologies changed our way of thinking and how we process information? I guess your perception on this comment will determine which side of the fence you stand on. Carr does acknowledge there are advantages to the “new brains” technology has developed, but also made it know he feels technology has contributed majorly to the shallowing of our thinking, to the point where it has become increasingly difficult for even highly intelligent people to sit down and read a book.

                                                      

Has recent technology changed our thinking that much that we can’t focus long enough to concentrate on a character’s development or determine a story’s theme and its plot? Again, I think it depends on where you stand. It wasn’t that long ago television sets were accused of doing the same thing to people – turning their minds to mush, taking them away from reading and other self directed activities that stimulate the mind and promoted deeper thinking. However, similar to today the technology of yesterday did bring about a lot of new learning for families. Televisions brought nature and educational programs that previously could not be gotten or found in books at the library. Granted there may have not been great educational value in Gilligan’s Island, but I do believe kids learned things from shows like the Brady Bunch or the Andy Griffith show.

That said of course I understand the explosion of technology today is unlike the past and society has been impacted in untold ways as a result, much good and according to Carr, and I can support to certain extent, some not so good. I agree the Internet has and will continue to change our brains and thinking. This I feel is a given as the Internet is here to stay thanks to the likes of Google and the other engines that will be around to promote it and newer technologies like artificial intelligence and the like.  But with this understood I do believe we can continue to acquire new knowledge through technological sources that will keep our minds supple and engaged without overloading them. The key to keeping ourselves on top potentially burned out brains is to be proactive and know when it is time to turn off the technology and step away for awhile. Unfortunately for many this has or is becoming the greatest drawback to technology.

On page 7 Carr shares he used to be a scuba diver in a sea of words, now he is a guy on a jet ski zipping along on the information surface. I really like this analogy, but from my vantage point this is a situation Carr and others have worked themselves into. What I mean is we all have choices in our lives, like Carr, to determine how we want to prioritize our time and energy. Being in an educational setting it is very frequent I hear parents say I am exhausted from running my kids all over town from this practice to this practice, then to a friend’s house and maybe be home at 9 to do homework. Similar to families who feel their kids need to participate in every sport and activity, users of technology have to also know when enough is enough. From my vantage point I believe our society and or culture has fostered technology overload through the belief if we don’t know everything, you don’t know anything. For example, at what point do say how much social media to we really need? It unfortunately has become almost expected that you have to stay connected at all times and in all places. Really?  We don’t need to be plugged in all the time, which is why in my opinion some people are finding it increasingly difficult to concentrate, dig deeper and focus as Carr says. Do I need to know in 140 characters or less that you just finished reading this paragraph? Do we really need more video games, Hulu, You Tube or reality shows to fill our time?  I appreciate Carr’s diagnosis of the situation and agree technology is changing how we think, behave, socialize and try to navigate our futures. But are the drawbacks to our technology satiation all technology’s doing?  To this I disagree as it is our personal responsibility to determine how far down the “mush mind” superhighway we are willing to travel.

I shared the little ditty in my opening lines as I believe it is a good example of what Carr says on page 212 “We shouldn’t allow the glories of technology to blind our inner watchdog to the possibility that we’ve numbed an essential part our self.”   Though I saw again and again throughout Carr’s book his more pessimistic view of technology and or the Internet, I do have to agree with his thinking in this statement that we must be mindful when it comes to being online and offline.  If we allow ourselves to become so absorbed with always having to know the latest information, we are in essence saying a life of constant interruption and fragmentation is accepted and necessary. For me, I choose not to subscribe to this mentality. My current employment asks me to be connected for many hours each day and I accept that fact. However, when I get the chance, either planned or accidently, technology “sabbaticals” rule the day as quite honestly the cognitive surplus file drawer needs to be emptied once in a while.