Carr’s real question is protecting depth, not internet-induced stupidity.

Evidence

Nicholas Carr’s well informed and subtle book is better served by its English title (The Shallows) than by the sensational question (taken from a polemical article) that serves as a title to the French translation [Is the Internet Making Us Stupid?]. Far from advocating a return to the Middle Ages, the author reflects on a general tendency towards shallowness brought on by the different ‘distraction machines’ that we are surrounded by in our digital environment. The real – and excellent – question he asks is not about knowing whether the internet is making us stupid, but about whether we will be able to adjust our environment so as to protect profound experiences. — Yves Citton, The Ecology of Attention, 426

Categorization

• XREF: Reframes Carr against the environmental-engineering side of this book’s attention ecology — that the salutary frame is adjusting the environment, not blaming the individual.