The Shallows Literary Elements

Non-Fiction

Modern-day in the era of the digital revolution.

First-person point of view from the perspective of the author.

Straightforward, Critical, Blunt

The protagonist of the book is the reader or internet user being addressed by Carr. The antagonist is the negative cognitive effect of the internet and technology in the digital age.

Carr acknowledges the huge impact the internet has had in the Digital Age; however, he identifies its influence on our ability to retain and learn information. Accordingly, he delves into the topic of neuroplasticity in how our brains are restructuring due to the new ways we receive information.

The climax of the book possibly reaches when Carr discloses that internet platforms are designed to distract rather than allow for focused thoughts.

“The more a sufferer concentrates on his symptoms, the deeper those symptoms are etched into his neural circuits. In the worst cases, the mind essentially trains itself to be sick.”

In this scientific assessment of brain plasticity, Carr foreshadows the cognitive impact of the internet.

“When you’re finished with a book, you can use it to fill an empty space on your bookshelf – or lend it to a friend.”

Carr alludes to multiple avenues in the digital space since the advent of the internet for instance the introduction of E-books by companies such as Amazon. Furthermore, the text highlights the programs and applications that have facilitated and ushered the change from written tradition into the digital age. Carr occasionally references literary figures from the past three centuries to highlight both the progress and the lapse that has occurred in the literary space.

“A child takes a crayon from a box and scribbles a yellow circle in the corner of a sheet of paper; this is the sun. She takes another crayon and draws a green squiggle through the center of the page; this is the horizon. Cutting through the horizon she draws two brown lines that come together in a jagged peak; this is mountain.”

The focus on neuroplasticity highlights the paradox in the ability of neural networks to grow and change through repetition of an activity. Though the brain can “escape from genetic determinism” it can also lock an individual into “rigid behaviors” by turning an activity into a habit.

The major parallelism Carr focuses on is the dawn of the written tradition and that of the internet. Therefore, the text compares the cognitive effects of reading physical books and that of internet surfing and usage of digital tools.

Carr uses the term “Net” or “Google” as a synecdoche for internet technology as a whole.

“Our modern microscopes, scanners, and sensors have disabused us of most of the old fanciful notions about the brain’s function.”