The Shallows by Nicholas Carr

How is the exponential increase of information that we process in all forms of media affecting the way we live? After reading Nicholas Carr’s The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains and other informational texts on the impact of information technology, write a synthesis essay in which you support a thesis based on one of the following quotes from Carr’s text. Support your position with evidence from the texts. “With the exception of alphabets and number systems, the Net may well be the single most powerful mind-altering technology that has ever come into general use. At the very least, it’s the most powerful that has come along since the book” (Carr 118). “Karp, Friedman, and Davis—all well-educated men with a keenness for writing— seem fairly sanguine about the decay of their faculties for reading and concentrating. All things considered, they say, the benefits they get from using the Net—quick access to loads of information, potent searching and filtering tools, an easy way to share their opinions with a small but interested audience—make up for the loss of their ability to sit still and turn the pages of a book or magazine” (Carr 8). “The price we pay to assume technology’s power is alienation. The toll can be particularly high with our intellectual technologies. The tools of the mind amplify and in turn numb the most intimate, the most human, of our natural capacities—those for reason, perception, memory, emotion” (Carr 211). Use your best voice, academic language, and third person point of view. Incorporate at least three sources (at least one from our class discussions) to support your ideas. Include at least three direct quotes; all quotes and paraphrased information must include a parenthetical citation. The last page of your paper should be your Works Cited page. Follow all MLA guidelines for formatting and documentation. You will also give a three-minute presentation highlighting the main ideas presented in your essay. Your presentation should: include your thesis statement, include at least three main points that support your thesis, include at least three pictures/charts/graphs (some visual representation) of the three main points, and follow all MLA guidelines for formatting and documentation.