The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains

What role does capitalism play in the proliferation of the Internet? How do economic structures affect the Internet’s impact? To what degree does Carr address the economic aspects of the Internet’s history?

Carr uses tactics from both personal essay writing and journalism to construct his argument. What effect do Carr’s personal anecdotes have in a popular science nonfiction text? How do they work in tandem—or in tension—with the more scientific and informative aspects of the book?

The Shallows was written between 2007 and 2009 and published in 2010. How has Internet use changed since its original publication? In what ways were Carr’s concerns confirmed or refuted?

Choose three literary allusions in The Shallows. What purpose do these references serve in Carr’s argument? How do they reinforce Carr’s argument that the Internet is part of a much longer continuum of transformative intellectual technologies?

While Carr is critical of the Internet’s effects on human cognition, he does not advocate wholesale abandonment of this technology. How does he seek a compromise between rejection of the Internet and uncritical acceptance of it?

How does Carr chronicle the shift from oral culture shift to literary culture? What events does he highlight as most significant in this transition? How does the Internet contribute to this history?

Carr provides a “Further Reading” list at the end of The Shallows. Choose one book from the list and analyze how that text confirms, challenges, or extends Carr’s argument.

Carr describes his experience embracing Internet media and subsequently losing his ability to focus extensively. Do you have a similar experience with the Internet? Why or why not? How is your experience similar or different from Carr’s?