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I was not excited to read The Shallows. I hate books. Yes, I know hate is a strong word. Contrary to my liking of books, I still did it to make sure I know what I’m talking about in this blog.

I thought the whole book was an irony. Carr says the internet and computer have altered his writing and is trying to go back to the pre-internet era, yet he wrote this book using Word and did a part of his research on the internet. The book seemed like I was, yet again, being told by someone other than my parents how life pre-internet was better for society and one’s self. I get it, mom and dad. I also felt a lot of the writing was not really related to the topic of how technology has changed us. Maybe it’s just me being a shallow, impatient reader. Pun intended.

Carr did make some good valid points. He writes that we skim over pages, books, articles, etc. rather than taking the time to read in depth, which I agree on because that’s exactly what I did with this book. I’m sure Professor O’Malley is skimming over this blog as well as everyone else’s. We have a shallow knowledge of many things, but can never get into the nitty, gritty details. The part that really interested me was about neuroplasticity and how the brain alters itself to what we expose to it, probably due to my major in neuroscience.  Reading the book, I did not think it had a deeper meaning until the lecture.

The lecture was very insightful. The concept of having two selves was mind bottling. I never took into account that I am reading to another person inside of me. As I am typing this, I am literally talking to my second self…. So… Weird…

The topic of discipline and how one is dressed in the classroom was a perspective I had not thought about either. I agree to a certain point of how one’s public self is now declining compared to a few decades ago when everyone was dressed to attend a meeting with a CEO. The other side of me says that what you wear isn’t a sign of how dedicated you are to learning. Young people, today, wear sandals and shorts and are figuring out the cure to AIDS and finding ways to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the air. Should I start wearing slacks and a blazer? Nah, I think I’ll stick to my comfortable jeans and a t-shirt.

I’m not sure if this book was supposed to change my mind about how much time I spend on the internet, but it was a repetition of what my parents say. Regardless of what anyone says, I rather live in this generation where information is literally at my fingertips.

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