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Cynthia Tavlin

The Shallows/What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains - 4 views

www.nytimes.com/...Lehrer-t.html

Internet brain cognition the shallows

shared by Cynthia Tavlin on 07 Jun 11 - Cached
  • Cynthia Tavlin on 07 Jun 11
     
    Has anyone read this book? I started it a few days ago. Noticed that reviews, like the one I linked to, were skeptical. Basically, Carr, who is a journalist, not a scientist, cites studies on brain plasticity and research that the brain changes in response to actions to conclude that the way we read and synthesize information online has changed the way we think (for the worse). I like how the NYT review puts new technology in a historical perspective.
  • ...2 more comments...
  • Mary McNamara on 08 Jun 11
     
    I was browsing through some new books at the library today and stumbled on Brooke Gladstone's "The Influencing Machine." It's an illustrated (graphic novel style) approach to how media has developed and our interactions with it, but she includes some commentary on Carr's ideas when she discusses technology. It's a good book to browse through, and from what I read quickly, she gives some positives and negatives of technology's impact.
  • Melissa Mijares on 08 Jun 11
     
    Mary - a graphic novel, you say? I love graphic novels -- I wonder why she chose that format, though?
  • Mary McNamara on 08 Jun 11
     
    Well, if I had to take a guess, I think she did it since one of her main points is that media isn't an external force outside of our control -- we can shape it, caring about it enough to respond and filter it. With a graphic novel, the images draw you in because they're abstract; the reader plays an active role by seeing themselves in the images and connecting all the images/words together to make it make sense. It engages so many of our senses at once. I love what Scott McCloud has to say about this, and the following talk that he gave actually relates more to how comics have been impacted by technology: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXYckRgsdjI
  • justin_mason on 09 Jun 11
     
    The idea that media has the potential to shape how we reason reminds me of Neil Postman and Marshall McLuhan. As an undergrad, I was basically obsessed with Postman's "Amusing Ourselves to Death" and the idea that some forms of media -Postman was especially thinking about TV- are inherently shallower than other forms and that the predominant medium tends to set the standard of what makes a good argument. Anyway, I wanted to find a YouTube video of Postman but instead found a really good video of Mike Wesch talking about Postman: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09gR6VPVrpw&feature=related
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