WWCD? (What Would Carr Do?)

eBooks and eTexts...What does Nicholas Carr think? Is it really to anyone’s surprise that he’s not a fan? While Carr does see the value in eBooks, he is also a staunch critic of the new medium. It is easy to guess what he would think about these eTexts in 2017, because The Shallows, while written in 2010, has an entire chapter dedicated to eBooks: Chapter 6 “The Very Image of a Book.”

In this chapter, Carr lays out the benefits of traditional print and electronic books as follows:

Benefits of Print Books	So What?
timeless/eternal	no batteries to charge
resilient	can drop in the sand at the beach, sit on them, spill coffee on them and they are none the worse for wear
relatively portable	with exceptions of gigantic textbooks, dictionaries, and Anna Karenina
easy to navigate	can flip to parts both past and future, without needing to know the exact page number
easy to annotate	scribble in the margins, highlight, underline all you like, as long as it's not a library book, please

Benefits of eBooks	So What?
portable	can hold an entire personal library in one device - no need to schlep heavy hardbacks around town
economical	eBooks usually cost dramatically less to both purchase and manufacture
green	think of all the paper you’ll save!
user friendly	forward and back buttons are self-explanatory, no need to go to the library or bookstore - books can be downloaded directly from online book sellers
customizable/adaptable	built in dictionaries and author bios, read-aloud features, and increasable text size help books become more accessible to all

After - briefly - discussing the pros of eBooks, he then dedicates the rest of the chapter to describing everything that’s wrong with them, including a prediction of how they will ruin literary discourse completely. Dramatic, to say the least.

So what’s so bad about eBooks? Carr himself admits that the book has been the “most resistant to the Net’s influence,” as there’s not a whole lot that can be done to “a long sequence of printed pages.” Or so we think. For all the praise that eBooks have gotten, Carr calls it all “wishful thinking,” and accuses supporters as naive, with an “inability to see how change in the medium’s form is also a change in its content.”

Now you may be asking yourself, How different can Jane Eyre really be on my Kindle compared to the printed version? A fair question, to be sure. Carr doesn’t take issue with eBooks themselves, or even Kindles for that matter. He even praises how the Kindle has avoided the backlit LED screen for one that resembles paper and reduces eye strain, a common struggle for those who read a lot of online text.

Carr’s worry is more about where they are headed. He quotes a senior vice president from HarperStudios (an offshoot of publisher HarperCollins), who wants his eBook designers to “create something dynamic to enhance the experience.” This includes adding hyperlinks, embedding video (to create something Simon & Schuster are calling "vooks") and allowing readers to connect with each other via an in-reader platform similar to social media. Carr notes that these so-called “enhancements” just “turns it into something very like a Web site.” No longer are our books just books; they have become yet another hypertext we have to navigate - one that interrupts and distracts us as intensely as any other Web-based text. Carr quotes author Steven Johnson, who laments that “total immersion...will be compromised,” and our abilities for reflection and deeper thinking will surely go the way of the Dodo. Carr imagines a future world in which readers “chat and pass virtual notes while scanning electronic text” like naughty teenagers rather than reading and comprehending the text.

This shift in reading will also begin to affect the way we write. Carr references the popularity of “cell phone novels” in Japan: narratives stories written solely on a mobile device and posted piecemeal via an online social media platform or blog. He worries that as our reading becomes “scanning,” our writing will also evolve to fit our new superficial, easily distracted brains: “Writers seem fated to eschew virtuosity and experimentation in favor of a bland but immediately accessible style...our indulgence in the pleasures of informality and immediacy has led to a narrowing of expressiveness and loss of eloquence.”

Does such a grim future truly await us? Or is Carr simply overreacting? What do you think? Feel free to leave a comment below, and be sure to tune in next week to see what the research says as well as  learn my Thoughts and Opinions on the matter. See you then!

Swimming through "The Shallows" (Part Two)

While the first half the Carr’s book is dedicated to the history or neuroplasticity and intellectual technologies, the second half of the book focuses on the specifics of the Internet, and how its systems are affecting and ultimately rewiring our brains.

For the sake of brevity, I have designed this post as an FAQ on the topic.

What do our brains look like on the Internet? What is really happening?

Benefits	Drawbacks
Efficient processing	Distracted / Interrupting
Quick decision making	Craving / Addicted
Evaluating	Forgetful
Collaborating	Impulsive / Impatient
Communicating	Limited Focus

Why is this happening?

Carr describes the Internet as having 4 major characteristics, each of which contribute to the issue:

1. Hypermedia; decision making process (to click or not to click) overloads our short term memory and affects comprehension.
2. Multimedia; information overload - we no longer speak of the Internet in terms of “pages” but rather as a “stream” or, even more worrisome, a “feed”. Our brains are hardwired to consume (and crave) information, and these new multimedia platforms can crank up the information volume to a damaging level.
3. Messaging; constant interruption! Every time you check your email (one study found up to 20-30 times an hour), you’ve interrupted - and possibly derailed - your train of thought, making it increasingly difficult to stay on task and get work done.
4. Multi-tasking; everyone thinks they are good at multitasking, but it’s really just a myth. Many “multitaskers” are actually worse at juggling and completing cognitive tasks.

What are we losing?

Singular, sustained focus / Attention

Deep, critical thinking

Mindfulness / Reflection

Reading comprehension / Meaning making

I’ve never been much of a book reader anyway, and I’ve always been scatterbrained. Why is this such a big deal?

As we begin to lose our complex thinking skills, the results of those skills also begin to diminish. For example, complex thinking skills are essential to developing advanced emotional responses like empathy. Once we give up on skills such as mindfulness, reflection, and other deep thinking, everything around us begins to become superficial. Creativity and “big ideas” begin to dwindle and as complacency sets in, progress comes to a halt.

The other big problem has to do with the way our brains process information. We have two types of memory: long term, and short term. Everything starts in short term memory, and then after time to process and reflect, this information can then be moved to long term memory (knowledge, learning). Without time to process information in an interruption and distraction-free environment, our brains cannot make connections and create meaning. As humans, meaning and purpose are essential to our well-being, and therefore the processes that develop them need to be protected.

So what can I do? How can I protect my brain?

Well, there’s good news and bad news:

The Bad News

There isn’t a whole lot to be done about the effects of the Internet on our brains, especially as the professional and social consequences of avoiding the Internet continue to grow. In his book, Carr does not offer many practical solutions to the issue, but it can be said that awareness is the first step to making a (hopefully positive) change.

The Good News

While Carr doesn’t offer too many solutions other than practicing deep thinking and removing oneself from the digital map, there are a ton of great resources and ideas out there for becoming a more mindful, reflective, and critical Internet user:

1. Consider implementing an Information Diet.
2. Take a break and practice Mindfulness.
3. Practice multiple ways of thinking by Making Your Thinking Visible.

It is important to model these behaviors for our students, who are more entrenched in technology than any generation before. What are ways you can integrate these methods into your classroom? How does affordance analysis fit into the puzzle? What other ways have you found to protect your brain and preserve the benefits of all forms of cognition? Feel free to add your thoughts in the comments below!

Swimming through "The Shallows" (Part One)

As promised, I have read through the first half of Nicholas Carr’s book, “The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains.”

This section of the book is dedicated to setting up the scientific and historical basis for Carr’s main argument: that the Internet and the new digital literacies associated with online communication are physically rewiring our brains and changing the way we think about and process information. Carr discusses the biological phenomenon of neuroplasticity as well as the cause and (cognitive) effect of invention and innovation, which he then logically connects them to prove his point.

Let’s walk through his points together, shall we?

Neuroplasticity

Neuroplasticity is a phenomenon in the brain that allows our neurons and brain cells to rewire themselves to create new connections, habits, and behaviors. This phenomenon has always been present in the human (and animal) brain, but scientists really began to understand its power and the implications thereof starting in the late 1960s. Originally thought as a “healing mechanism, triggered by trauma to the brain or the sensory organs,” scientist soon began to understand that plasticity is, as Alvaro Pascual-Leone puts it, “the normal ongoing state of the nervous system throughout the lifespan.”

Carr references a variety of case studies and experiments, the most interesting of which involved London cab drivers in the 1990s. The experiment scanned the brains of drivers with “between two and forty-two years of experience.” When compared to the control, they found the taxi drivers posterior hippocampus was much larger than normal, and grew over time with experience. In contrast, their anterior hippocampus was “smaller than average, apparently a result of the need to accommodate the enlargement for the posterior area.”

From all of these case studies and experiments, we can draw a few conclusions about neuroplasticity and the brain:

1. Neuroplasticity is present in human and animal brains, and is not purely limited to healing or recovering from trauma.
2. Repetitive physical activity can rewire our brains, but so too can purely mental activity.
3. The rewiring of our neurons takes time, repetition, and input. Changes in brain function are subtle, and develop in stages.
4. “Plastic does not mean elastic.” Our new rewired pathways take time to form, and “tend to hold onto their changed state.” (This explains why bad habits and addictions can be so difficult to break).
5. As in the case of the taxi drivers, space in our brains is limited. As we become stronger in one area, we can weaken in another. Carr states, “just as the brain can build new or stronger circuits through physical or mental practice, those circuits can weaken or dissolve with neglect.”
6. Nothing is permanent. With “concerted effort” we can “redirect our neural signals to rebuild the skills we’ve lost.”

The Cause and Effect of Invention

After Carr has established that our brains can change and rewire themselves to adapt to a variety of new situations, he then discusses the role in which new tools and inventions can play in this rewiring process.

Carr argues that there are four categories of innovation:

1. Physical - these inventions make us stronger, faster, more efficient; think combine harvester or cotton gin
2. Sensory - these inventions enhance our senses; microscopes, telescopes, satellites...
3. Evolutionary/Scientific - these inventions “reshape nature” to fit our needs; antibiotics, pesticides, GMOs...
4. Intellectual - these inventions “extend or support our mental powers”

It is upon this fourth category, the “intellectual technologies,” where Carr sharpens his focus. His argument is a little abstract, and not as easy to follow as the others, but he eventually makes his case. The basis of his argument is that while all inventions and innovations have historical, societal, cultural, and ethical effects, intellectual technologies have an additional, cognitive, effect. He argues that these tools eventually rewire our brains, and change the way we think.

For example, Carr cites the famous thinker Friedrich Nietzsche's typewriter as an intellectual invention that reshaped his brain and writing style to fit the new tool. Because of multiple health issues, Nietzsche relied on his typewriter heavily in his later years. A close friend and colleague, Heinrich Köselitz, “noticed a change in the style of his writing.” Köeslitz noted that his style became more forceful, tighter, and more “telegraphic.” Nietzsche agreed, concluding that “our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts.”

Carr’s second, and even stronger, example is the invention of the printing press. Just as the rewiring of our brains takes time, so also did the evolution of literacy - of reading and writing in it’s most traditional sense. While the printing press didn’t change the world overnight, it certainly changed the world in a very permanent way. As soon as reading and writing books became the standard form of education and communication, our brains changed in a dramatic way as well. Linear, logical, and reflective thought became the intellectual ideal, replacing the emphasis on the lyrical and artistic ways of the oral tradition intended to help with memorization. Knowledge became less about remembering and more about analyzing and synthesizing, and so our brains have changed to facilitate these new processes.

How the Internet Fits

The Internet is the new black. The Black, of course, being the intellectual tools we use to communicate. Our tools are changing again, and therefore our brains will as well. There is a cycle of cognitive evolution here, which I’ve illustrated below:

Impacts on Modern Education

As the cycle of cognitive evolution continues to shift, we as educators need to teach to this new kind of brain. Just as Plato’s written theses replaced the oral rhetoric of Socrates, digital literacies and citizenship need to become our new focus in the educational world. Our lessons need to match the societies and communities our students will eventually serve.

Students are still reading and writing - some could even argue that they are reading and writing more than any generation before them - but the tools have changed. We have to be ready to help our students navigate these new tools, tools which will shape their habits and behaviors whether we are involved in the process or not. I for one, would like to insure that our students develop habits and behaviors that serve them for the better.