Memory

     Chapter nine of The Shallows is about all about memory. Memory can be saved in short term memory, or long term memory. It can be explicit, meaning remembering faces, recollections of places and things that have happened throughout life, your conscious memory. Or memory can be implicit, meaning remembering actions such as how to ride a bike, or write words on a piece of paper, the unconscious memory. There used to be a time before people could write down thoughts and read other people’s ideas. They relied on story telling and their memory to retain information. Once people though were able to write down thoughts, people were given the options basically to not have to rely on memory all the time. Many times, holding too much information in the mind can easily be forgotten, messed up, or lost. Once thoughts were written down in books, remembering and memorizing became unneeded almost. Carr starts off his chapter by talking about Socrates and what he believed about memory. Socrates talked about the transition from thoughts to being written down in books, and how people did not have to memorize everything anymore. Carr elaborates on what Socrates says and points out that “Books provided people with a far greater and more diverse supply of facts, opinions, ideas, and stories than had been available before, and both the method and culture of deep reading encouraged the commitment of printed information to memory.” (177) I agree with this statement Carr points out. Having to say, memorize facts about history. The teacher could lecture one class about her opinion on a war and then expect you to recite information on that war for a project presentation another class. Unfortunately, with so many things that happened in history, facts can easily get messed up or retold differently. By looking up facts in a book, you can read actual words, take notes, and have the information better committed to memory for reading. This helps better commit information to memory. Carr says books are a way to challenge and improve out memory, and I agree with that. By reading, we are increasing our knowledge through training our brain to read and memorize.


     Today in modern society, almost everyone relies on one thing more than books to get their information, the internet. Search engines such as Google are a quick way to find results. It is easy to get the information you are exactly looking for with the click of a button. Once people find what they need, information can be read and remembered instead of always having to resort to a book and read a chunk of unimportant information. People also post information more commonly online than publish books because it is cheaper and saves paper. From way back when people didn’t write down thoughts, to the age of the internet, there are always new ways to improve and help our memory learn new information.



Jacque Rideout