I recently finished The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to our Brains by Nicholas Carr. I had the opportunity to see him speak last fall and had wanted to read the book since that time. I finally completed it. I won’t try to review the book in full, but I do want to share with you the notes I made throughout the book as  I summarized it while reading it.
These are largely unedited and summarizations of the text. They may not flow as smoothly as I would like.

The book gives a history of research surrounding the brain. Most of the early theories centered on the brain being milled early in our lives and by the time we reach our 20s the brain, and it’s behaviors, are mostly intact, unable to change as we age. The only change comes in the form of decay as the nervous system slowly breaks down and then dies.

New research pointed to neuroplasticity in which the brain is constantly shifting the way it operates to make it more efficient.

How does this work?

Ex. People who become blind but can hear better do so because the area of the brain responsible for sight is taken over by the area responsible for hearing.

In a study of cab drivers in London, the area of the brain responsible for spatial reasoning-navigating London- was much larger than the area dedicated to memory.

Edward Taub’s CIMT is mentioned in which a stroke patient spent 8 hours a day for several weeks using limbs on the left side of his body. The result was the brain re-mapping the pathways necessary to use the left side of the body.

The basic premise is that the large amount of time spent online is causing us not to exercise certain synapses in our brain. The neurons needed for deep, creative thought do not fire. Instead we are firing our quick response neurons, problem, solution, move on. This has a profound long-term affect on creativity, problem solving and discussion skills. We can’t argue a point or sit back and be creative. Our brains absolutely need time to reflect and recharge. Constantly pinging it with stimuli does not give our brain the necessary time to do that.

A constant flood of stimuli does not allow our brain to process bits of information necessary for long-term memory. This is why you can leave a meeting, check your email and instantly forget anything that was said in the meeting. When it’s necessary to process events, thoughts or process steps following a meeting, the brain must have time to do so. Time also isn’t the main issue, but the brain must be conditioned to do so. So even though one may take 5-10 minutes after a meeting to recap, if the brain isn’t conditioned to process things effectively, 5-10 minutes may not be enough.

Our working memory (RAM) is only capable of processing 2-4 pieces of information at any given time. So working through 10 items in a meeting with no means to process/remember them leaves open the possibility of things being overlooked. The information is flowing in is called “cognitive load.” As cognitive load reaches peak capacity, our ability to distinguish the important from the unimportant is severely diminished and all the information becomes static and noise.

Short term memory needs time to process thoughts to long term memory. Any disruption, whether a jab to the head or a simple distraction can sweep the nascent memories from the mind. (A boxer not being able to remember a fight)

Building long term memory can actually make our minds sharper. Expanding long term memory enlarges our intelligence.

The calculator – When schools started allowing the use of calculators, the resulting effect was the freeing up of cognitive load to process more complex mathematical equations. The Web is the opposite in that it taxes cognitive load and diminishes understanding.

The intellectual environment of the Internet is “like trying to read a book while doing a crossword puzzle.”

The book cites an overload of working memory as a possible link to ADD, wherein the ADD is caused by an overloaded working memory and thus may be preventable.

Hyperconnectivity goes beyond the Web with office workers checking email upwards of 30-40 times per hour. Even a brief distraction can curb cognitive processes, forcing a person to restart to get back to where they previously were.

This “switching cost” taxes are brain in much the same way as navigating a curvy mountain road would a car. When moving in a straight line, free of curves a car operates more efficiently and can go faster, but when constantly moving in various directions and braking, the car’s fuel efficiency and wear on the tires is heightened.

Jordan Grafman of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke says that being online constantly does increase our ability to multitask. However… “The more you multitask, the less deliberate you become; the less able you are to think and reason out a problem.”

Solutions given are likely to be conventional and unoriginal. “How does Acme do it?”

On multitasking, to quote Roman philosopher Seneca “To be everywhere is to be nowhere.”

Cliffnord Nass of Stanford led a research study that showed heavy multitaskers are “suckers for irrelevancy” and that “everything distracts them.”

Heavy multitasking diminishes the ability to support calm, linear thought which is hugely important in navigating a complex equation or taking part in an argument.

“There needs to be a time for efficient data collection and time for inefficient contemplation, time to operate the machine and time to sit idly in the garden.”

“Outsource memory and culture withers.”