CM 170: Nicholas Carr on What the Internet Does to Our Brains

Is the onslaught of online information eroding our brain's ability to think deeply and creatively?

In 2008, Nicholas Carr, asked the provocative question, "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" Two years later, he delved more deeply into this topic in his Pulitzer Prize-nominated book, The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains. 

Writing at the dawn of the smartphone era, Carr was concerned about the shift many of us were making from deep reading to online scanning. It made him question the Internet's impact on our long-term memory and reasoning skills.

Carr muses, "we find ourselves...gathering information...but never slowing down to...mull over it...and when we lose...the ability to concentrate and be attentive...we short-circuit memory consolidation and end up with a...shallow mind."

In the decade since the book's release, brain researchers have validated a number of Carr's insights. At the same time, many of today's challenges speak directly to his concerns. He argues, "if you look at problems...with...'fake news'...or...the...rush to...dismiss information that doesn't fit into your existing worldview, I think this is...about...[not]...building this rich interconnected set of knowledge...[in] our...minds."

Nick Carr has written for the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, and Wired. He is also author of the books, The Glass Cage, and Utopia is Creepy.

Curious Minds Team

Learn more about Host and Creator, Gayle Allen, and Producer and Editor, Rob Mancabelli, here.

Episode Links

How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy by Jenny Odell

Reader, Come Home by Maryanne Wolf

Memory consolidation

Frederick Winslow Taylor

Flynn effect

Joseph Weizenbaum

Salience network

Cynthia Ozick

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