NICHOLAS CARR ON DEEP READING AND DIGITAL THINKING
in "Understanding Media," the author illustrates how humans were removed from the social world, acquired a narrow perspective, became more individualistic, defined themselves by a mix of knowledge when they read thanks to the printing press
sight became dominant, humans became more alienated from others
the internet medium doesn't just change habit but it changes the brain
not just literal, but literary
'60's-'70's: the study of neuroplasticity
on the internet, our neural circulatory changes
ways of thinking not encouraged by tech, we use it less, and it atrophies
deciphering text but we lost the ability to read nature and the world, our brains were re-programmed
stimulus comes slowly when reading & natural bias is for quick stimulus, so going back to the way things were
paying attention is not natural, it's natural for us rather to want lots of information
the busier world of the screen
get a time-limited safe to lock your phone in before doing deep reading
there's brain drain when suppressing the desire to pick up phone and the desire in itself
time spent in book making associations, interacting with book, adapting yourself is what reading is all about, NOT GETTING THE MAIN IDEAS IN A BOOK [it's the process of reading itself]
reading as practical activity [deriving info] vs reading as exercise in contemplation
higher intelligence is not about info processing
2010s desktop users will still in the majority, not so much smartphones
equally important is how we take info from the internet into our minds, not just the volume of information
on the internet, not going to assemble info into knowledge when just getting a firehose of info because can't make associations at that speed
a rich store of personal knowledge comes from making associations!! the ability to put knowledge into a broader context [more important not deep thinking] is what to aim for and we can't do that via the internet because of its medium
deep thinking is about moving things into memory
contemplative reading doesn't pressure us into what we are supposed to think but on the net, there is more of a signal of how we are supposed to receive info, pressure to have right opinions
social signals are actually history's dominant way, we are just coming back to making meaning