I found that chapter 3 of The Shallows had what I would say is 2 arcs to it. The first spoke on how the clock and map had not only transformed how humans lived their lives, but also had an impact on our psychological being as well. The use of these technologies and others had actually changed how our brains worked and functioned and allowed us to focus on complex ideas and theories as opposed to just wondering about our immediate surroundings and activity. The discussion on whether we were in control of technological advancements or if in fact, they were actually just using us humans as almost a vessel, was extremely interesting to me. When first stated, it seemed like a weird almost impossible thought process, but through quotes and further explanation actually began to seem like a plausible theory.

The second part of this chapter dealt with with language and writing and reading’s effect on the world as a whole. Language is explained as a natural occurrence in humans and requires nothing from the outside world to develop. Reading and writing however need to be taught and practiced to become proficient at. The interesting part about this is that different languages and how they are written actually effect different parts of the brain. English and Chinese may be used for the same purpose, to communicate, but their actual use lights up different parts of the brain due to difference in processing phonetic alphabet and symbol based ones. The most intriguing part here was that writing may actually cause forgetfulness.