Chapter 9, The Shallows Summary and Response

Summary

Nicholas Carr, in "Search, Memory," the ninth chapter in his book The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains, Carr talks about the brain and how it holds short term memory and long term memory. He starts off by talking about how the internet has been a go-to place for information that isn't stored in the brain. He basically means that the internet has replaced the memory of the brain. Carr later talks about the brains limitless ability to store information. A lot of people these days use the internet to gather information. This process however isn't always good because memorization requires attention and depth, something that we don't train our brains to do when we are reading information online. All we really do is just skim the information and not process them.

Response

Carr says in Chaper 9 of his book, "People didn't have to memorize everything anymore. They could look it up." This sentence struck me because it was exactly what I do a lot, although it isn't a good technique. Like Carr says, memorization requires attention and depth. When we constantly use the internet for every little bit of information, we don't truly learn anything because all we do is skim the information. Me personally, when people try to verbally teach me things, sometimes I find myself not really pay attention because I am a visual person, and I need to look at things on the internet.

Everything Bad is Good For You: Games, Summary and Response

Games

Steven Johnson in, "Games", the first section under Part One of his book, "Everthing Bad Is Good For You" , Johnson talks about video games and how they aren't all that bad. Ever since he was introduced to games as a young kid, he was hooked. He was hooked because of how the games made his mind work, and work in a positive way that is. Johnson brings up the skills and experiences that video games are valued. He also talks about why people are so captivated by video games, such as flashy graphics, interactivity, and sex and violence. The point he makes in this reading is that even though video games contain negative contents, it shouldn't be considered a completely bad thing. He wants people to see the positive effects of video games and how it works the mind. For instance, video games can improve our decision making skills and improve social relationships.

Steven Johnson brings up the idea about how reading can be rewarding and have a positive effect on the brain. He says that, "We should all encourage our kids to read more, to develop comfort with and an appetite for reading." I agree with him. Reading is just more than looking at words. It takes "concentration, attention, and the ability to make sense of words.", like he mentions in the book. I feel like when I read, I have to really visualize the words or else I wouldn't understand it. I, myself also think that reading is rewarding such as learning new vocabulary words. I have a little sister that often brings home a book. Whenever I catch her reading a book, whether it contains a lot of pictures or a combination of both, she seems really interested in it. And that is what intrigues me because of how powerful words and pictures can be. Even though I don't like reading in general, I would definitely teach my kids later on in life, the importance of reading.

Chapter 5 Response

The sentence,"American children between the ages two and eleven were using the Net about eleven hours a week in 2009..." , I would have to disagree with. The reason why I disagree with Carr is because it doesn't make sense that kids that young, especially at around 2 years old can be able to use the Net for the amount of time that was stated. The one sentence Carr wrote that I agree with would have to be the sentence where he said that "the time we devote to the Net comes out of the time we would otherwise spend watching TV." I agrred with Carr on this one because I, personally found myself using the internet more than the TV. I think its simply because the internet nowadays have a lot to offer, all in one place. For instant I can watch my show on MTV.com, and than after go to Yahoo.com to look at some news articles. That way I can stay in one place and get access to all the media resources I want.

Chapter 5 Summary

Nicholas Carr, in "The medium of the most general nature," the fifth chapter in his book The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains, Carr talks about the transition from old techologies to new technologies. He starts off by introducing Alan Turing and Charles Babbage who both played an important role in the creation of the programmable machine. The new programmable machines allowed text, pictures, and sounds to be accessed online. This new technological overcame the use of old technologies. People around the world changed the way they read books, listen to music, and watch movies. On the downside, Carr brings up the loss of profit from businesses. But as the Net grows, businesses have learned to adapt with it. It is astonishing to think about how technology has taken over our lives compared to the past. Carr said in one of his paragraphs that, "Our use of the Net will only grow, and its impact on us will only strengthen, as it becomes ever more present in our lives."

Chapter 4 Response

The one sentence I agree with would have to be, "The lack of word separation, combined with the absence of word order conventions, placed an "extra cognitive burden" on ancient readers." I agree with this Carr on this one because of the one poem in class that I had to decipher. The poem had no spaces whatsoever and made it very hard for me to understand what it was saying. In addition to that, it was time-consuming. Even after deciphering the poem, I had a hard time understanding the feeling the poem was trying to give out. Thank goodness for the idea of adding spaces to writings. The sentence, "They had to train their brains to ignore everything else going around them.", I had to disagree with. I disagreed simply because obviously everybody is different and some people are just born naturally with good attention span and reading skills.

Chapter 4 Summary

Nicholas Carr, in "The Deepening Page," the fourth chapter in his book The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains, talks about the evolution of writing and books. He starts off by talking about the early creation of writing. Carr begins with the clay tablet and later moving on to the papyrus scrolls, wax tablet and finally the codex. The codex was basically the beginning of books. And from the book, Carr brings up silent reading and the scriptura continua. Back then when the book was first created, everybody had to read out loud and read without the use of spaces. Silent reading and spaces changed the way people read books. As the books grew popular, the letter press was invented by a German goldsmith named Johannes Getenberg. Getenberg's invention has changed the way we make, publish and read books dramatically. Its pretty interesting to me that the evolution started off when some people decided to write by using some natural resources. There would be no writing or books if no one ever tried writing.

Chapter 3 Summary

Nicholas Carr, in "Tools of the Mind," the third chapter in his book The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains, Carr talks about the human brain and how it matures over time with the innovation of technology. He starts off by talking about clocks and maps they shape us. As clocks and maps were invented, we rely on them a lot. Carr describes them as "supplements" to our daily life. After reading the first few pages, I wondered how chaotic life would be if we didn't have clocks and maps to assist us. He also mentions that "our intellectual maturation as individuals, can be traced through the way we draw pictures, or maps, of our surroundings." The tools that we use has changed the way we think. Carr said that "Sometimes our tools do what we tell them to.Other times, we adapt ourselves to our tools' requirements."