This Chapter is titled “The Juggler’s Brain” which is fitting because Carr, in this chapter, argues that we juggle the use of our attention when using the internet. he asks “What can science tell us about the actual effects that Internet use is having on the way our minds work?” Carr uses several experiments, studies, and journals to back up his answer to this question, that the internet promotes cursory reading, hurried, and distracted thinking.

The first point Carr makes is during the use of the internet we “repeat the same or similar actions over and over again.” The second important statement he makes is that “The net provides a high-speed system for delivering responses and rewards.” These statements by themselves are just observations, but support his next idea that the long-term influence of the net is that it seizes our attention, only to scatter it.  Carr also states “The net is, by design, an interruption system, a machine geared for dividing attention.”

Carr reinforces that idea with a plethora of experts and experiment findings. Gary Small, an expert in Physiological and Neurological effects of digital media, says he’s discovered that the explosion of digital technology is rapidly and profoundly altering our brains. An experiment Small conducted showed using the internet, even only for five hours, can drastically change neurological pathways. The last point Small suggests is “Using the net as an informational medium is so intensive, when it becomes our primary mode of thought, can impede deep learning and thinking.” John Sweller, an educational psychologist, theorizes that the net influences the depth of our thinking. He elaborates on short-term and long-term memory and explains that we have a harder time forming long-term memories through media. Another experiment in 1990 showed how hypertext reading increased cognitive load by comparing reading text to reading hyperlinked-text. In a similar experiment in 2001, two Canadian scholars found that the group reading plain text routinely scored better on memory and read time than the hyperlink-text group.

In summation, Carr suggests we are rewiring our brains. Maybe in ways that are self harmful to the attention span.