The Shallows: What The Internet is Doing to our Brains

About a month ago, I finished The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains by Nicholas Carr. I definitely do not usually read nonfiction, but the topic was something I had specifically been wondering about. As a school librarian, I've found myself constantly telling students that they "have to actually read it" when they are conducting research. Increasingly, I've observed that this happens with both digital and print sources. At first I thought this was just something they had to tough out; that they're used to getting exactly what they need at first glance - that they are usually asked questions designed to have an easy-to-locate answer (And that is, I believe, a small part of this issue). But still I wondered.... is there something I'm missing here about these students? I began to be suspicious that there might be more to their apparent lack of ability to really dig in and think deeply about their research. I wanted to know more about the brain and whether it is possible that students' brains are actually "wired" differently than mine was at their age. Carr's answer was, in short, yes, they are.

I'm not sure I totally buy in to  all aspects of Carr's answer, but there are certain things that make sense.  For example, Carr explains several reasons why students (and even grown-ups! Gasp!) have trouble reading for meaning on the Internet. It has to do with distractions and how much information the working memory can hold. If a student is analyzing whether or not a link should be clicked, the student's brain function is focused on that rather than gaining a deep understanding of the content. Hypertext, while supposedly a tool for enhancing understanding, very often hinders it. This makes total sense to me - I've seen this in action, especially with my younger students. As the students get older, I think they get better at filtering, but the question of whether to click or not is still one that has to be answered each time a link is available. Carr cites studies that have shown that the fewer the links, the higher the rate of comprehension of content. Interesting. But what does that mean for me as a school librarian? I can't control external web pages and how many links there are. Even if I could, that is not what they are going to experience in the "Real World," so is that even good practice?

I haven't even come close to explaining every point, or even every detail of each point that I've mentioned. I just felt like I needed to start exploring these ideas so I can become a better teacher and librarian. I can't keep telling students to "just read it" if that is something they literally, physically are not wired to do. I know I can help them get there... I just have to figure out the most effective path.