The Shallows by Nicholas Carr

This book is also sub-titled "How the Internet is Changing the Way We Think, Read and Remember".

This was one of a couple of books I read on holiday this year and it has really opened my mind to how our technology is literally changing the way we think.

Carr's book shows how our brains have changed as each new technology has come along, not just the internet. All the way through this book he backs up his arguments by referencing appropriate scientific evidence. He works through the different technologies from the printed word to the latest digital media affirming Marshall McLuhan's theories along the way. He debunks each contrary theory including that our brains become rigid in adulthood and then start loosing brain cells at an alarming rate.

He shows that if we come to depend on the internet for our information we will loose our abilities to reason etc. Indeed he almost goes as far as to say we will loose our humanity. However he doesn't suggest we should stop using technology, just not depend on it, so all in moderation is the name of the game.

He also outlines that one of the core principles of the internet - that 'free & open access to information encourages innovation' is not working, that the use of search engines is actually reducing the number of citations in academic documents as the search engines will present the most popular answers at the top and people tend not to read as broadly and deeply as they once did and so the most popular wins and it produces an ever decreasing circle as only the most popular are referenced, so the link pool gets smaller & smaller. So rather than opening out and making access to a brad range of ideas and information the search engines and the internet are doing the exact reverse.

He presented evidence as to how we now read, especially on line, that we only read around 18% of the text on a web site and that we read like a letter F. So we read the top line for a bit, then jump down read in a little before jumping down to the bottom.  Scary or useful information for web designers.

He also makes a compelling case for the internet and our use of search engines reducing our time to think, review, and come to our own conclusions.

This has a real effect on creativity, where is the space for creativity in this ever faster "want it now" and "what's happening now" world?  Surely creativity often comes from those seemingly unproductive moments of peace and space. If we remove those deeper reading moments and time for contemplation and review, because they aren't immediately productive, then the world will become populated by machines irrespective as to whether they are carbon or silicon based and the world will be much the poorer for it.

So I do recommend this book, and if you use the links to buy it then I will get a small commission from Amazon.

Also please do comment and discuss these issues, I would be very interested in your thoughts on these issues.