Superficiales: ¿Qué está haciendo Internet con nuestras mentes?

Escrito por Nicholas Carr

Narrado por Gerardo Prat

¿Qué está haciendo Internet con nuestras mentes?

Este audiolibro cambiará para siempre nuestro modo de entender y aprovechar las nuevas tecnologías.

«¿Google nos vuelve estúpidos?» Nicholas Carr condensó así, en el título de un célebre artículo, uno de los debates más importantes de nuestro tiempo: mientras disfrutamos de las bondades de la Red, ¿estamos sacrificando nuestra capacidad para leer y pensar con profundidad? En este audiolibro, Carr desarrolla sus argumentos para crear el más revelador análisis de las consecuencias intelectuales y culturales de Internet publicado hasta la fecha.

Nuestro cerebro, como demuestran las evidencias científicas e históricas, cambia en respuesta a nuestras experiencias, y la tecnología que usamos para encontrar, almacenar y compartir información puede, literalmente, alterar nuestros procesos neuronales. Además, cada tecnología de la información conlleva una ética intelectual. Así como el libro impreso servía para centrar nuestra atención, fomentando el pensamiento profundo y creativo, Internet fomenta el picoteo rápido y distraído de pequeños fragmentos de información de muchas fuentes. Su ética es una ética industrial, de la velocidad y la eficiencia.

La Red nos está reconfigurando a su propia imagen, volviéndonos más hábiles para manejar y ojear superficialmente la información pero menos capaces de concentración, contemplación y reflexión. Este audiolibro cambiará para siempre nuestro modo de entender y aprovechar las nuevas tecnologías. Escúchalo ahora.

Reseñas:
«Absorbente y perturbador. Todos bromeamos sobre cómo Internet nos está convirtiendo, y especialmente a nuestros hijos, en cabezas de chorlito acelerados incapaces de meditaciones profundas. No es ninguna broma, insiste Carr, y a mí me ha convencido.»
John Horgan, The Wall Street Journal

«Una réplica calmada y elocuente a aquellos que afirman que la cultura digital es inofensiva, que afirman, de hecho, que nos estamos volviendo más listos cada minuto que pasa simplemente porque podemos conectarnos a un ordenador y dejarnos llevar por un interminable carrusel de links.»
Julia Keller, Chicago Tribune

• Idioma: Español
• Editorial: Penguin Random House Audio
• Traductor: Pedro Cifuentes Huertas
• Fecha de lanzamiento: 17 ene 2019
• ISBN: 9788430622863

Nicholas Carr

Nicholas Carr es autor Superficiales. ¿Qué está haciendo Internet con nuestras mentes?, finalista del premio Pulitzer y éxito de crítica y ventas en España. Otros de sus libros publicados son: El gran interruptor (2008) y Las tecnologías de la información. ¿Son realmente una ventaja competitiva? (2004). Ha escrito para The Atlantic, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Wired, The Guardian,The Times of London, The New Republic, The Financial Times, Die Zeit, entre otras muchas publicaciones, y es escritor-residente de la Universidad de California, Berkeley, y editor ejecutivo de la Harvard Business Review. www.roughtype.com www.nicholasgcarr.com

Comentarios para Superficiales

[ojchase · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

Carr makes a strong case that the internet is diminishing our ability to think deeply and focus. It's well argued, and a bit disturbing. I've been feeling it in my life, and unfortunately there's good evidence I'm not imagining it. Next is figuring out how to adjust my life to stop it. Being able to get through a solid book is a step in the right direction.

[castlelass · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

“What the net seems to be doing is chipping away my ability for concentration and contemplation. Whether I’m online or not my mind now expects to take in information in the way the net distributes it, in a constantly moving stream of particles. Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words, now I zip along the surface like a guy on a jet ski.”

The author expresses concern that the internet is reducing our ability to process and retain information. He cites many scientific studies to make his point that it is, in fact, rewiring our brains. He examines the many distractions offered by the internet, and how following hyperlinks can result in an unexpected adverse impact on memory.

“When we read a book, the information faucet provides a steady drip, which we can control by the pace of our reading. Through our single-minded concentration on the text, we can transfer all or most of the information into long-term memory and forge the rich associations essential to the creation of schemas. With the net we face many information faucets all going full blast.”

In addition to brain science, he relates a history of communications. It is quite informative about the history of language, alphabets, early printing presses, books, the typewriter, word processing. Each of these advances have impacted the way humans process information. He looks at trends in writing and publishing. I sincerely hope his statements about the future of the book (in any format) does not come to pass. This book was published in 2010, so I imagine what has happened since then would reinforce his message.

Prior to reading this book, I had already quit all social media except Goodreads. The author does not advocate such “extreme” measures, but my peace of mind has improved immensely. This is definitely a book that will prompt people to reevaluate their usage of the internet.

“It would not be rash to suggest that as the net reroutes our vital paths and diminishes our capacity for contemplation, it is altering the depth of our emotions as well as our thoughts.”

[leann-362203 · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

I absolutely loved this book... he said so many things I have been thinking and wondering about as we have stepped into this technological age. Just read it!

[spiritedstardust · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

This was not concise - the theories were padded with so much superfluous information that we didn’t need to know - it was like he was constantly hyperlinking himself down the rabbit hole, rather than staying on topic.
I was born in 85. I grew up with tech. But I am still a voracious reader who has no issues paying attention to whatever I’m doing even if that is reading for 12 hours straight, so I don’t quite agree that tech has smashed our attention spans and the way we think. Perhaps for some, but not all. I also use Ebola and have never clocked any of the kinks, I read them the same way I read paper books.

[annbury_1 · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

This book does three big things. First, it highlights the fact that brain plasticity is now accepted science -- our brains can change, even into old age. Second, it shows how means of communication have affected thought: first the oral tradition emphasized memory, then the written (and printed) word favored slow reasoning, and now the internet favors fast reactive thinking. Finally, it reviews recent research to see what the impact of internet use on thinking (depth, speed, and many other dimensions) has actually been. The results are not encouraging. The author concludes that there is no way we can go back from the internet, so we will have to learn to live with it. Most of the book is compelling and interesting, despite a few longueurs. At the end, however, the conclusion may be no more than "Oh well, too bad".

[marklacy-355086 · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

[from 2011] This book really resonated with me. So often I have found myself at a cognitive impasse and I don't doubt for a minute that it is tied to what the Internet has done to my thinking processes.

[et.carole · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

It has been a long time since I enjoyed a nonfiction book as much as this one. The careful and scientific analysis of the anatomical and mental effects of an internet-based world was rewarding. The shortcomings I noticed-the brevity of the section on emotional changes, the monolithic presentation of the Internet, and the generalizations of what interaction with the internet mean-all these were problems required by the length and publication date of the book. Carr presents so much scientific research for his theses that he ends up sounding repetitive, but this is necessary, considering his position as leader of a defined minority in terms of approach to embrace of digital advancement. He stops just short of a call to action, which is perfectly timed, and allows The Shallows to describe a cultural phenomenon while avoiding most condemnation of those who use it and without becoming prescriptive.

[azbob1951 · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

A must read for anyone who can no longer concentrate, read no more than two page articles, or has lost the ability to write longhand coherently.

Before I read 'The Shallows' I thought I may be coming down with the same Alzheimer's 20 years earlier than my father. Now I believe it's because I spend so much time on the Net hoping 'something' will 'happen' that through disuse, I've slowly erased many of my cognitive talents.

[dmturner · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

A very interesting and well-researched screed with one major flaw

This thorough book is readable and not a little frightening. In our embrace of the instantaneous benefits of the Internet, are we losing the ability to reason, to reflect, and to feel empathy? The writer ably and thoroughly demonstrates the evidence that we are. The only weakness--and it's a big one-- is the fallacy of assuming that reading a bound text in the past was always a thorough and meditative practice. Perhaps it was for a few, at least for those who wrote about it. But relying on assumptions about the idyllic past based on those writings is not a safe bet.

[tamara.fowler23 · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

A great read that explores man and the way inventions (such as clocks, paper, etc.) throughout history have changed the way we think. It also discusses the latest technology man has created and how it is shaping the way we live, work and even think. For good or bad the way we process information in this technology rich age is changing. I liked the author's movement and organization of the book with little side note chapters interspersed.

[scottjpearson · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

Do you ever wonder whether our computer technology and the Internet are making us better as people? Or do they make us worse off? Are we becoming smarter or more dumb? What happens to our brains when we use the Internet? Carr explores these questions and more in this Pulitzer-Prize-finalist book.

Carr borrows heavily from Marshall McLuhan, the scholar whose foresight in the 1960s defined the philosophy of electronic media. He also borrows from modern neuroscience.

However, he views technology rather one-dimensionally. He routinely and lazily uses subjective words like “exhausting” to describe the experience of using a computer. (I find computers very enlivening.) He describes using a computer as an act of “juggling” instead of “linear thought” as we have in books. Again, maybe I’m too much of a computer programmer, but I experience my best linear thinking in front of screens.

The main weakness in his argument is that good software enshrines play and is not “exhausting.” Technology is not merely a way to off-load humanity’s tasks; it is a way to have fun and to use it to create. Working with computers gives me energy and insight into human elements; it does not “outmode” them as Carr alleges. Technology (done right) can equip us to play much as books do. That’s why I use a Mac and the UNIX operating system. That’s how in programming, I create worlds for people to solve complex problems.

Even with technology, we are in charge. I didn’t use a calculator until the eleventh grade trigonometry because I wanted to learn to do math in my head better. When we spend an entire book blaming technology instead of owning up to our responsibilities, we waste our time. As programmers often say, computers only do what you tell them to do.

[patl_53 · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

The Shallows is a very, very important book.

It examines the changes in the neural pathways that the web takes us through, and lays out the risks for those of us who are learning to think the way the web does. It is extremely well researched and thorough; footnotes are helpful and abundant.

It's "funny" that it takes some concentration to get through the book. When I first read the author's story in the NY Times, "Is Google Making Us Stupid", from which this book was based, I saw clearly the changes in my own attention span and attention to detail. I started reading poetry and novels again, just to reprogram my mind. I see my own tendency toward Internet addiction as well, checking email frequently, surfing the web while watching movies with the family, reading news when commuting and listening to music... and I see that tendency much more deeply in my younger relatives who literally text each other when sitting on the couch next to each other and speak in txt shorthand.

I recently finished a doctoral dissertation in spiritual formation and social networks, and I really wish I'd have been able to include this book in the chapter I wrote on the shift to Internet based social networking. It's not an academic work, but it's an important one that I recommend highly to anybody who wants to think clearly.

[wdwilson3 · Calificación: 2 de 5 estrellas]

Nearly a decade after it was written, I listened to this book and was struck by how elitist it was. The "deep thought" that Carr talks about has eluded 90% or more of the world's population without the Internet, yet he decries its loss. Yes, the Internet probably does alter the human brain's activity, but he makes a poor case that this is a bad thing. There is lots to decry about the human condition in the Internet age, but this is not as important as anonymous bullying, fake posts, and other garbage. Stylistically, Carr has constructed this book out of extended quotes from sources that we can't begin to fact check, making for a tedious extended college master's thesis.

[keithgordonvernon · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

Intruiging – a bit technical

[thebentley · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

Exceptionally well-researched and thoughtfully written, Carr's examination of the neurology of the internet begins with the clay tablet and the sundial. I was impressed with Carr's open-mindedness, owing partly, no doubt, to this very long view. Though there are certainly moments when he seems he would like to attack the technology, he's mostly very even-handed and academic while still managing not to be too didactic. A very interesting, considered examination that might change the way you approach technology.

[moniica_1 · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

Synopsis: The Shallows opens out with a history of the written word and how reading has transformed over time. We are taken back to when people first started silent reading, then when published books first evolved and then to when Internet came about.

A large portion of the book is focused on Google, and how hyperlinks and 'skim-reading' is changing us and changing the way we use our working memory.

My Opinion: From the title, I inferred that The Shallows would take a negative stance on how the Internet is changing us, but it does not do that at all. Both the pros and cons of the Internet are weighed up and evaluated.

There were some aspects that when I read I thought 'I knew that already', but the book consolidates all these aspects, along with studies, to give an objective stance on what the Internet has done to our brains.

[redsnapdragons · Calificación: 2 de 5 estrellas]

I had a really difficult time getting through this book...which was disappointing, because the subject is really interesting to me.

[snowbodyatall · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

The book begins with a look at how the plasticity of the brain -- how it can repair broken pathways and how new pathways can emerge, then it delves into the progression of technology that has influenced the flow of information. Both of these sections were very intriguing and I really enjoyed the look at how Socrate and Plato had differences with the emergence of an alphabet for the common man of the times.

The book is a look at how people read and how information can be gained from what you read.

I wish we could have a world-wide discussion around this topic as I have some concern for how we use current technology, (especially Social Media sites), to communicate. My theory is there is a lot of Social Attention Deficit Disorder surrounding these outlets.

For me, the book was not saying the Internet is inherently "evil", but rather, if you skim while you read, you should not assume you learned very much at all. This goes for all written words, no matter the media ... and ... know your sources of information, first and foremost (the latter is my recommendation, not that of the author of this work).

[fips-4 · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

The blurb claims this book to be a Silent Spring for the literary mind. That is certainly comparing apples to oranges, but at the core to this book there is a thought-provoking argument about the impact of various technologies on the workings of the mind. Carr's main thesis (to be found almost in its entirety in his article "Is Google making us stupid?") is that the Internet is changing our minds, our ability to think and the way we use our memories, and all this not necessarily for the better. Essentially, the Internet is a universe of distractions, offering endless light entertainments and pointless interruptions that train our brains into an addictive shallow pattern of ineffectual multitasking. We hold up the new technology on a pedestal as a doorway to a new world of knowledge and communication, bringing with it benefits for social interaction, personal liberty and scientific endeavour, but Carr claims that this portal is not without its drawbacks vitiating our ability to think deeply, or use our memories effectively.

Whilst much of the furore that came after the publication of his article/this book ascribes him to being a drum-bashing technophobe, there is little Luddite rhetoric here, and this book is far from the grandiloquent jeremiad its often labelled as being. The book itself is largely well-written, with the core argument never far from the narrative, and there is plenty of research here to back up the claims. Certainly this is no serious scholarly work, the charge often levelled at Carr that he only cherry-picked research findings which bolstered his main argument is probably justified, but there is enough food here for thought. The arguments of the aforementioned article have been padded out with some interesting historical background, findings from the realms of neuroscience and psychology, and parallels to other technological shifts, but at times it does feel like one is reading an undergraduate essay hurried off to a deadline: a string of hopefully worthy quotes, strung together by the occasionally conjunction ("..." and "...", however "..."). The best chapters are those which don't shy away from using the personal pronoun 'I' and reflect the authors own observant struggles with the new age technologies, and the sadly all too short chapter on the Internet's influence on our use of memory is of its own a very thought-provoking aside.

At less than 250 sparsely-packed pages, this is a book that shouldn't exhaust even the attention span of the novus homo it describes. It should be of interest to people born both sides of the Internet divide, and the well-researched reports on historical parallels and psychological aspects offer plenty of titbits for our minds to work on. The reproach that Carr offers no solutions to the problematic developments he highlights is, in my opinion, to the book's strengths not weaknesses. It is a commentary, rather than a critique. Social change can be halted about as easily as the tides, though we might as individuals choose to tread our own paths. But it behoves us all well to acknowledge Change's existence.

[bodagirl · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

Interesting and not as overwhelmingly negative as the title implies. I liked the parallels between the transition from an oral to a written culture and the current transition from a written to a digital culture. I think there is truth to how our minds are being influenced and changed by our interaction with the Internet and computers, but I'm not convinced that it is as dire as Carr makes it out to be.

[nadineeg-1 · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

Highly recommended, am citing this in my thesis

[mdoris_6 · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

Our daughter who is doing a Library Science degree suggested this book to us. She had read the [End of Absence] by [[Michael Harris]] at our suggestion. EofA won the Canadian Governor General Award for non fiction in 2014. [The Shallows] was mentioned in the EofA bibliography and it is a very interesting read. It is now 5 years old and in this computer driven world, 5 years is a long time and what he discusses is in many ways in sharper focus. He discusses brain plasticity and the effects of computer use.

(from the book jacket)....He challenges that with Net use we are sacrificing our ability to read and think deeply.....the technologies that we use to find, store and share information can literally reroute our neural pathways,....we are becoming ever more adept at scanning and skimming but what we are losing is our capacity for concentration, contemplation and reflection.

This is a very interesting and somewhat disturbing book. It is well written and well referenced.
It is very easy to be whisked away by technology without seeing the changes that it is making in us and for us over time. It brings many of those changes to a conscious level.

[klburnside · Calificación: 2 de 5 estrellas]

I didn't love this book. It took me a while to get through it, and I wavered between two and three stars. I liked the premise and a lot of the information about the effects of the internet on the human brain was fascinating. Honestly, I was a little bored at times. The book dragged on and there wasn't enough to hold my interest. I realize that what I just wrote fully proves the author's point about how the human brain is becoming incapable of "deep reading," and we are too easily distracted to pay full attetntion to one subject matter in the form of a book. But in this case, I would have prefered an article.

This book strengthened my resolve not to have an iphone or the internet (for now). Strangely, it also made me want to spend less time reading and more time shaping my brain in other ways: creative pursuits, learning a trade, etc.

[dmoitzh · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

I am not usually a non-fiction reader, but I read this book for my Abydos certification and LOVED it! It was really interesting to see how our brains have a plasticity to them that allows us to learn and how the internet has really adjusted our brain connections.
I would recommend this book for anyone in the educational field. I think it really opened my eyes to how our children's minds are affected by digital media which is affecting how they read and process information.

[tiffanyak_1 · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

While many of the historical and scientific details given were truly fascinating, the central argument within the book was generally weakly supported, relying too much on anecdotal accounts, which took away from the reading experience. Still, I would consider these elements to have made it well worth the read. It would have been a far better book geared in a different direction. Yet, it does provide the reader with a great deal to think about and consider. I learned a lot and also reassessed some aspects of my connected life after reading the book, which I suppose is a rather large point of success. Overall, I came away better for having read it, even as I felt much of it could have been left behind or better crafted. I would recommend it, as there is still a certain stroke of genius there.

[kittyjay · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

In The Shallows, Nicholas Carr gives the obligatory brief history of technological advances, primarily the Gutenberg press, and delves into the vast realm of the Internet and its pervasive effect on culture (as evidenced by the fact that I am using it now to review this book - ironic or coincidental?). Specifically, he looks at the neurochemistry of our brains and how the Internet is affecting the way we think.

I read this immediately after reading Technopoly by Neil Postman and I'm glad I did - the two dovetail perfectly (Carr even cites Technopoly, as well as a previous book that I serendipitously read last year called The Library at Night). While Postman looks at the ideology of technology and focuses on computers in general rather than the Internet itself, Carr's work is more specific and rests more on science than reason. Where one falters, the other picks up the slack. Postman, for instance, argues against the growing trend of refusing logic in favor of statistics or quantifiable evidence, which he argues is often skewed. This is a valid point, but when fighting against those who are inculcated by that viewpoint, it's hard not to feel as if something is missing from his argument. Carr fills the spaces in with ample scientific evidence, studies, and statistics - fighting, as it were, fire with fire. Carr may rely too heavily on science and statistics however. According to scientists, we have been poised on the cusp of understanding human consciousness since the invention of the MRI, which I am leery of putting too much faith in, as interpretation seems to still be in its infancy. Postman's reason and logic steps in to bolster the argument.

On its own, Carr's work is an intriguing cautionary tale of the internet - far from ranting against it, he echoes Postman's argument that technology has drawbacks. Again, the drawback Postman focused on is the lack of a guiding ideology, but Carr takes on the physical changes and the loss of deep thinking as a result of the Internet's hyperactive, distractable environment.

I am in no way qualified to judge the science used, so I'll gracefully bow out and allow others to decide for themselves, but I will note that he did state definitively that "Silent reading was largely unknown in the ancient world", which is by no means definitive - as much of the premise of one of his chapters rested on this assumption, I was annoyed. That said, I will say his conclusions seem relatively sound from the evidence given - it's just a matter if his evidence was correct, as in the case of the silent reading (I say not that silent reading was definitely around or common, merely that there is some argument over it and coming down one way or the other is liable to cause a fistfight between classical scholars).

Carr's writing is mostly graceful, particularly within chapters, though his transitions and digressions can feel a little abrupt and clunky.

Beyond his thesis, however, Carr's main strength is in anticipating future arguments. For every possible argument, Carr seems to have a rebuttal ready. The Flynn effect is addressed and answered with SAT scores, which have shown a decline in reading comprehension. Calculators helped in school! Yes, because they alleviated the load for working memory, while studies have shown that the Internet is more taxing for working memory and hyperlinks actually contribute to a decline in reading comprehension.

It never feels as if he's preaching or standing too tall on a soapbox - he seems to be giving the reader the information and allowing them to do what they want with it, which is telling and fits with what technology does.

[alancaro-1 · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

Must read book for 2015. How is our on-line addiction changing the way our brain chemistry works. Included is a fascinating but brief history of the written word.

[juva_3 · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

This eyeopening look at the internet's effect on the human brain is the sort of quietly terrifying read that will haunt your nightmares. At the same time it will amaze you. The human brain is a staggeringly complex and adaptable organ. This book is dense and packed full of so much knowledge and recent research that it's a must read. Technology is so ubiquitous in our life that it's easy to forget that we don't really know the full extent of the consequences of its use. This book is a cautionary word that sounds radical next to the ecstatic praises we are so used to.

[nnschiller · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

Really enjoyed chapters 1-4. Now that I'm in the midst of chapter 5, I'm getting angry. Carr has founded his argument on solid research and good science. Suddenly he's masking value judgments as scientific fact and assuming his favored kinds of reading are the only kinds of intellectual activity. More accurately, he treats scholars who are looking for new ways of reading as people who have abandoned reading.

This is very disappointing, since the book started so strongly. Carr needs more than nostalgia for his childhood and resistance to any change in order to make his point.

On finishing, I have to say this is a well researched book. It is not shallow. However his evidence and supporting arguments are much more valuable than his conclusions.

His warnings, when taken simply at face value and without the implied and explicit value judgments, are wise. Electronic information unchecked and without discipline can have unwanted side effects. We would be wise to accept his warnings but reject his bias against the new.

This book belongs in a class w/ Jaron Lanier's You Are Not a Gadget: intelligent counterpoints to the Internet exceptionalist point of view. Carr has a rhetorical sophistication Lanier lacks, but Lanier understands technology as an engineer, something that Carr does not. Carr sees technology only as an end user. He has only the context of the past to explain the future. He does not understand technology or even attempt to understand technology from the point of view of a technologist. He sees the effects but is blind to the vision. This doesn't mean he is wrong (although I think he is) but it does mean that he lacks a key perspective.

[tjsjohanna_1 · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

There are a lot of compelling ideas in this book and some interesting illustrations, but the book felt uneven and sometimes disconnected. Maybe the result of the internet age?? What I found most engaging were the explanations of how our brains change as a result of the things we do and don't do with them - and how the ways we use our technology actually change the way we think. A little frightening when I think of the challenges my kids face in basic thinking skills and recognize how their media time impacts that.