In one of the final chapters of The Shallows, I reflected on a line from page 218: “Conscious craft turns into unconscious routine.” Nicholas Carr compared our unconscious routine-ness to the Taylorist method from the Industrial Revolution. He said that we “follow scripts” when we go online, and that “these scripts can be ingenious and extraordinarily useful… but they also mechanize the messy processes of intellectual exploration and even social attachment” (pg. 218). I would actually argue that these “scripts” have begun to take hold of our entire lives, since we’ve entered an age where we are connected to the internet at all times. We are so constantly connected to the rest of the world that we’ve become somewhat disconnected with our own knowledge, intuition, and self-identity.
I was recently sitting at an outdoor table with some friends at a bar. It was late afternoon on a beautiful day, the bar wasn’t crowded, and we were enjoying ourselves. Then, as soon as the slightest lull in conversation occurred, one of the guys pulled out his phone. Instinctively, all the other guys at the table pulled out their phones as well. This is not an uncommon occurrence. We went from a lively discussion to everyone staring blankly at screens in the blink of an eye. It was as if they had all “left” the table simultaneously, and none of them thought twice about it. Rather than sitting back and enjoying the fall weather, they impulsively turned to the internet. Again, this kind of thing happens regularly. It worries me that the internet has burrowed its way into our instinctual habits like that. Carr explained, “Rather than acting according to our own knowledge and intuition, we go through the motions” (pg. 219). We’ve become wary of those moments of ‘contemplative silence,’ and have started to replace them with mindless internet surfing and social media updates.
To expand further, Carr talked about the relaxing effect that nature normally has on the brain, its ability to silence that perpetual ‘buzzing’ that seems to have taken hold of our society. “A series of psychological studies over the past twenty years has revealed that after spending time in a quiet rural setting, close to nature, people exhibit greater attentiveness, stronger memory, and generally improved cognition. Their brains become both calmer and sharper” (Carr, p. 219). I’ve begun to take notice of that calming effect over the last month or so. Columbia, MO has one of the best parks systems I’ve seen. There are beautiful, well-kept trails and plenty of lakes, benches, dog parks, and other serene environments throughout the Columbia area. I try to ride my bike on the MKT Trail a few times a week, and I often stop at one of the parks along the trail to simply sit and think for a bit, and I can honestly say that after those rides, I feel cognitively refreshed and focused. In Carr’s words, “when people aren’t being bombarded by external stimuli, their brains can, in effect, relax. They no longer have to tax their working memories by processing a stream of bottom-up distractions. The resulting state of contemplativeness strengthens their ability to control their mind” (pg. 219). The idea that we allow our internet use to become so compulsive that it gains control over our psyche is alarming. “One of the greatest dangers we face as we automate the work of our minds, as we cede control over the flow of our thoughts and memories to a powerful electronic system…is a slow erosion of our humanness and our humanity” (Carr, pg. 220). I’m not sure that the world is prepared for a post-human society yet.
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