Conversations with Colleagues about THE SHALLOWS: Introduction

Last summer, I read Nicholas Carr's book, The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains (see July 2010 post about this book).

This month, BAY School colleagues and I are holding a series of conversations about ideas from that book.

This week, I will be posting the topics one or two at a time.

As the conversations occur, I may post summaries and/or reflections.

Below is the title and first topic from the sheet I recently distributed to colleagues.
(The "attached excerpts [from Carr's book]" will not appear in any of these posts.)

Nicholas Carr’s The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains (Norton 2010)

What do you think about any of these ideas I have quoted or summarized from Carr’s book?
For example, which ones seem true to your personal experience or your work with students?
Carr’s context for each idea appears in the attached excerpts.


A.    SUSTAINING CONCENTRATION
“The redirection of our mental resources, from reading words to making judgments [about which links to click or sidebars to read], may be imperceptible to us—our brains are quick—but it’s been shown to impede comprehension and retention, particularly when it’s repeated frequently . . . Our ability to make the rich mental connections that form when we read deeply and without distraction remains largely disengaged.” (122)