Nicholas G. Carr
Nicholas G. Carr is an American writer known for his insightful analysis of business and digital technology. Born in 1959 in Cincinnati, Ohio, he holds a BA from Dartmouth College and an MA from Harvard University. Carr's writing career began as a columnist for the Guardian and has included contributions to prestigious publications like The Atlantic and The Wall Street Journal. His 2004 book, *Does IT Matter?*, presents a critical view of the role of information technology in business, suggesting that excessive reliance on technology may hinder innovation.
Carr gained widespread attention with his 2008 article, "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" which sparked discussions about the cognitive effects of internet usage on reading comprehension and concentration. His most acclaimed work, *The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains* (2010), expands on these themes and argues that access to vast amounts of information does not equate to a deeper understanding. Over the years, Carr has continued to explore the consequences of digital technology on society, contributing to various media and serving in advisory roles for notable organizations. His work stands as a significant voice in the ongoing conversation about technology’s impact on business, education, and cultural dynamics.
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Subject Terms
Nicholas G. Carr
Writer
- Born: 1959
- Place of Birth: Cincinnati, Ohio
Contribution: Nicholas G. Carr is an American writer specializing in business and digital technology. His 2010 book The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains was a finalist for the 2011 Pulitzer Prize.
Background
Nicholas G. Carr was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1959. He received a BA from Dartmouth College in 1981 and then went on to earn an MA in English and American literature and language from Harvard University.
Career
Carr served as the executive editor for the Harvard Business Review from 1997 to 2003. Carr’s writing career began as a columnist for the Guardian newspaper in London, a position he held while contributing technology- and business culture–related work to publications such as the Atlantic, the Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, and the New York Times.
In his 2004 book Does IT Matter?, which is based on his Harvard Business Review article “IT Doesn’t Matter” (May 2003), Carr argues that the expanding presence of information technology in the business sector may actually harm more businesses than it benefits. Carr cites the high costs and potential risks of extensive technological and digital investments when compared to the more feasible strategies of innovation and development.
In 2008, Carr published a six-page cover essay in the Atlantic Monthly titled “Is Google Making Us Stupid? What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains,” which sparked an international conversation among digital-technology critics, scholars, and the general public alike. The article argues that with the growing global fascination with online digital technologies, regular internet use serves to diminish an individual’s ability to concentrate while reading traditional material while simultaneously reducing reading comprehension levels.
In 2010, Carr published the book Building Bridges: Essays on Business, Technology and Innovation, which contains ten essays comparing and contrasting the rise of the digital age with historic precedents and economic theory. The same year saw the publication of Carr’s most critically acclaimed work to date: The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains, which expands on his 2008 Atlantic Monthly cover essay and offers a stark argument insisting that global access to knowledge does not necessarily mean a greater common knowledge for all. The book offers a provocative new perspective on many established notions surrounding breadth of knowledge versus depth, the value of multitasking, and the apparent evaporation in our culture of quiet concentration and deep, introspective thinking.
The Shallows received widespread critical acclaim from sociologists, media analysts, and business and technology critics alike, and it has been translated into multiple languages since its initial publication. The book was a finalist for the PEN Center USA 2011 Literary Award for research nonfiction and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2011 for general nonfiction.
After 2014's The Glass Cage: Automation and Us, in 2016, Carr published Utopia Is Creepy and Other Provocations, which is an anti-technology, anti-internet collection of posts from his blog over the previous ten years. The title essay offers readers an alternative reality and outcome to the digital age.
In addition to writing about the impact of digital technology on society and global business culture, Nicholas Carr is a former member of Encyclopedia Britannica’s editorial board of advisers. He has also served on the board of the World Economic Forum’s cloud computing project. The group was tasked with examining the effects of cloud computing technologies on global economic growth, innovation, and employment.
Carr contributes weekly to his technology blog Rough Type and is an accomplished speaker in both academia and the corporate world. His essays on the ramifications of digital development have also been featured in numerous anthologies, including The Best American Science and Nature Writing (2009), The Best Technology Writing (2009), and The Best Spiritual Writing (2010). He also continues to write for prominent publications, such as Politico magazine and the Los Angeles Review of Books, among others.
Carr has also served as the Richmond Visiting Professor in the Department of Anthropology and Sociology at Williams College. There he taught courses on technology and social media.
Impact
Nicholas G. Carr remains one of the world’s preeminent voices on the role of rapidly advancing digital technologies and their impact on society. While his specialty remains analyzing the potential impact of such technologies on global business, he has become an increasingly prominent voice on the impact of global media, social networking, and computer integration on society and education.
Bibliography
Carr, Nicholas G. “Cognitive Consequences: A Conversation with Nicholas Carr.” Interview by Mike Springer. Open Culture, 14 June 2010, www.openculture.com/2010/06/cognitive‗consequences‗a‗conversation‗with‗nicholas‗carr.html. Accessed 27 Sept. 2024.
Carr, Nicholas G. “An Interview with Nicholas G. Carr: Do You Really Need That Next Upgrade?” Ubiquity, Association for Computing Machinery, June 2004, ubiquity.acm.org/article.cfm?id=1008531. Accessed 27 Sept. 2024.
Carr, Nicholas G. “Is Google Making Us Stupid? What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains.” The Atlantic, 1 July 2008, www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/07/is-google-making-us-stupid/306868/. Accessed 27 Sept. 2024.
Carr, Nicholas G. “Beautiful Lies: The Art of the Deep Fake.” Review of The Book of Veles, by Jonas Bendiksen. Los Angeles Review of Books, 6 Dec. 2021, lareviewofbooks.org/article/beautiful-lies-the-art-of-the-deep-fake/. Accessed 27 Sept. 2024.
Nicholas G. Carr, www.nicholascarr.com/. Accessed 27 Sept. 2024.
Spanberg, Erik. "In Utopia Is Creepy, Nicholas Carr Asks: Does Technology Mean Progress?" Christian Science Monitor, 31 Oct. 2016, www.csmonitor.com/Books/chapter-and-verse/2016/1031/In-Utopia-Is-Creepy-Nicholas-Carr-asks-Does-technology-mean-progress. Accessed 27 Sept. 2024.