First published 2025
Nicholas Carr takes on the widely accepted belief that better communication technology creates a better society. He traces this assumption from nineteenth-century telegraph and telephone systems through today's internet and social platforms. His central argument flips conventional wisdom: as our communication tools become more mechanized and efficient, they generate more confusion than clarity, more conflict than cooperation. Carr shows how messaging applications remove subtlety from human conversation. He explains how "digital crowding" destroys empathy while fueling aggression. Political discussions online shrink our thinking and warp our view of reality. Artificial intelligence makes the boundary between truth and fiction even murkier. Tech companies promised connection but delivered isolation. Carr forces readers to face uncomfortable facts about human psychology. Our minds cannot handle the overwhelming flood of information that modern technology produces. He combines psychological research with historical and scientific examples to show how media reshapes both society and individual identity. The system may be beyond repair, but people can still adapt.
Genres: psychology, contemporary, social-issues, non-fiction, 21st-century, communication
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: critical-analysis, thought-provoking
Period: 19th-Century, 20th-Century, 21st-Century
272 pages · Kindle Edition · W. W. Norton & Company