Out of the Shallows: A book review of Nicola Carr's The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains

            A Book Review of The Shallows, What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains by Nicolas Carr. By Donna Samudio

            No one really needs to tell us that we live in a shallow world. From television shows urging us to root for strangers in competition with each other to changing fashions in hair, clothing, and makeup that make no lasting difference to our lives, the world seems built on shallow interactions and superficial presentations. Nicolas Carr in The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains argues that we are being led into increasingly shallow thinking by the very nature of how we access the world through technology. While the book is secular, its message has relevance for us believers living in a technological world.

            Carr’s central argument is this: the way we get our information and interact through technology actually hinders our ability to make deep connections between ideas and to contemplate complex issues. He explores his ideas by looking at television, word processing, brain plasticity, and how we read on the internet. His tone is concerned, but I wouldn’t call him alarmist. I have experienced some of the things he talks about, like getting lost in a sea of pages by being lured by hyperlinks (the blue or underlined words in an article on the internet that take you to another page when you click on them).

            According to Carr, our experiences with data can easily become a matter of breadth rather than depth with each new page competing for space in our memories. Likewise, all the clutter of pop-up ads and animated gifs disrupt our brain’s natural process of moving things from working memory into storage memory. Have you ever had trouble remembering things you have read on the internet even when you tried to pay attention? It could be that you suffered from memory disruption.

            Google, Bing, Wikipedia, and other information gatherers would argue that access to endless information and multitasking through multiple windows is beneficial. Carr argues that in the long run our memory and neuron formation is programmed to be hyperactive by the increasing demands on our eyes and attention. Just like a diet too high in sugar will affect our body’s chemistry by reprogramming the release of insulin, a mental diet too full of these visual distractions and shallow interactions will hamper our ability to concentrate and think deeply. The internet screams at us to click anywhere and instantly get new visual information without ever stopping to ponder what we might be learning.

            I believe that the issue of contemplation versus stimulation has the most relevance for us in terms of our walk of faith. Ephesians 6:18 says, “praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication.” Kyle’s recent message (August 18) dealt with this issue of “all prayer” and “praying in the Spirit.” He said something I am trying to contemplate deeply—that prayer is spiritual because it reminds us of our humanity, that we haven’t got it all together, and that we are vulnerable. Prayer is serious business. We are constantly vulnerable to Satan’s attacks; therefore, we need to be in constant prayer. It takes mindfulness and effort to keep the shallow “hit and run” prayer from being our primary means of talking with God.

            Satan would have us shallow and distracted by whatever means he can. If Carr’s argument is correct, then we need to counter the effects of the internet by shifting our focus and practicing contemplative thinking in the Scriptures and an attitude of constant prayer. Carr’s book has made me aware of how even seemingly good things on the internet can possibly make my mind conform to the world’s shallow ways without even being aware of their influence.