An Analysis of the Shallows by Nicholas Carr Essay

In The Shallows, Nicholas Carr shows us how the internet has been integrated in to our daily lives and is changing the way we use our brain, think, read and remember. Carr's purpose is to help readers understand the magnitude of the change the Internet has on a user's psyche.Carr focuses on the damage the Internet is doing to our brains. He draws from historical and cutting edge scientific research to show us that Internet is rewiring our brains and actually creating more superficial understanding. Citing the latest brain research that shows the plasticity of the brain, he argues that we should remain cautious in fully adopting Net technologies.He wants us to value wisdom over knowledge, and to use new technology intelligently.What I see as most significant is the ideas about Google in Chapter 8, The Church of Google. Carr gives us not only the idea of efficiency and productivity of Google to make information more available to the world and to make that information easily searchable, but also its side effects that it does not give us time to read or think deeply. By addressing the opposite views in the example of Google we use all the time, he supports his main points clearly.Nicholas Carr is very known writer and was the finalist for the 2011 Pulitzer Prize. In The shallows, Carr does a great job of keeping readers engaged and drawing them into his article. Carrs perspective throughout is that the Internet is changing the way the current generation thinks by changing the way we process information. He does a good job of arguing this idea by using relevant sources, and getting the reader emotionally involved. Although the appeal to logic seems to be rather less present than needed in his paper, it is very relatable, and he presents himself well, making himself credible with the use of sources and personal examples. Carrs paper is a well-written argumentative essay that helps the readers...

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