Just Finished Reading: The Shallows – How the Internet is changing the way we think, read and remember by Nicolas Carr (FP: 2010)

Do you find it difficult to concentrate these days? Is your memory worse than it’s ever been? Sleeping badly? On edge as is waiting for something? Have you given up reading anything longer than a page (or possibly two) of text before you need to do something, anything, else? If so, you’re not alone. Millions of people across the world feel the same – the cause? According to the author the cause is right in front of you right now, as you’re reading this. It’s the Internet.

It’s been talked about a lot. Unplugging, switching off your phone at night, not checking your work e-mails when on holiday or over the weekend but most of us can’t resist. You see people walking around with their phones clutched in their hands as if their lives depended on it. They seem, at least from afar, that they’re addicted and, to an extent, it seems that’s exactly what they are. It’s because our brains are so plastic. They response to their environment and, at a cellular level, redesign themselves to maximise our adaptability to increase our chances of survival and success. So stimulate the brain with lots of short term, instant response, high flow information and it will literally rewire itself to maximise throughput. So when an e–mail arrives, followed by another one, followed by a tweet, followed by a Facebook status alert, followed by a text, followed by an actual voice call in quick succession (or even at the same time) we can instantly switch between them. You must have seen teens effortlessly thumb messages on their phones whilst holding a conversation with music on their headphones and three other things and wonder: How can they do that? Years (or even scant months) of training and very plastic brains. The reason they can do it and you can’t (possibly) is that they literally have different brains so they can cope with it. They are wired to thrive in an information overloaded environment. So, that’s a good thing yes? We live in an age of information and the people who will be living in it longer are already thriving? That must be a good thing, right?

Not according to the author – because when something is gained, and especially when it’s gained by rewiring the brain itself, something is lost. That something is the ability to think deeply about subjects, the ability to concentrate long enough on a subject to understand it more that superficially, to hold opinions based on evidence and to make persuasive arguments backed up with detailed analysis. All the skills, indeed, that the world is more in desperate need of than ever before. What we have instead is a world increasing populated by people who are bored by facts, who have no knowledge of or interest in history, philosophy, science or much else beyond the latest celebrity tweet or YouTube sensation of the moment. Natural multi-tasking at the micro level has taken the place of deep thought about big subjects. Backed up by numerous studies from the worlds of Anthropology, Psychology, Sociology and Neurophysiology this is an eye-opening study explain why so many people seem to be distracted most of the time – because they are and it’s changing people’s brains to allow them to cope with it. This is not a good thing. We are naturally adapting well to an artificial environment and storing up problems for ourselves in the future – both as individuals and societies. So if you find yourself unable to concentrate on a book after more than a few pages maybe it’s a warning that you need to unplug from time to time. Stop checking your e-mails ten times a day, Kill those Twitter alerts, ditch Facebook and learn how to concentrate again. Definitely a recommended read for anyone concerned about the effects our technology is having on us and our kids. Much more to come on this important subject.