{"id":664,"date":"2024-05-31T10:42:14","date_gmt":"2024-05-31T14:42:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nicholascarr.com\/?page_id=664"},"modified":"2025-06-23T18:53:35","modified_gmt":"2025-06-23T22:53:35","slug":"superbloom","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.nicholascarr.com\/?page_id=664","title":{"rendered":"Superbloom"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The acclaimed new book from the author of The Shallows<\/em>, <\/span>Superbloom: How Technologies of Connection Tear Us Apart <\/em>is a searching, searing exploration of the way social media has warped our sense of self and society.<\/span><\/p>\n

“Fascinating.”<\/strong> \u2013The Economist<\/em>
\n“Bracing.”<\/strong> \u2013The<\/em> Wall Street Journal<\/em>
\n“Eye-opening.”<\/strong> \u2013The American Scholar<\/em>
\n“Inspiring.”<\/strong> \u2013Los Angeles Review of Books<\/em>
\n“Urgent.”<\/strong> \u2013Booklist<\/em>
\n“Lucid.”<\/strong> \u2013The Hedgehog Review
\n<\/em>“Incisive”<\/strong> \u2013Financial Times
\n<\/em>“Vivid.”<\/strong> \u2013Undark
\n<\/em>“Perceptive.” <\/strong>\u2013National Review
\n<\/em>“Admirable.”<\/strong> \u2013Poynter
\n<\/em>“Profound.” <\/strong>\u2013The Gospel Coalition<\/em><\/p>\n

Order: <\/strong>Bookshop.org<\/a> | Amazon<\/a> |\u00a0B&N<\/a>
\nRead a Preview:<\/strong> “From Anxiety to Animosity<\/a>”<\/p>\n

From the telegraph and telephone in the 1800s to the internet and social media in our own day, the public has welcomed new communication systems. Whenever people gain more power to share information, the assumption goes, society prospers. Superbloom<\/span><\/em> tells a startlingly different story. As communication becomes more mechanized and efficient, it breeds confusion more than understanding, strife more than harmony. Media technologies all too often bring out the worst in us.<\/p>\n

A celebrated writer on the human consequences of technology, Nicholas Carr reorients the conversation around modern communication, challenging some of our most cherished beliefs about self-expression, free speech, and media democratization. He reveals how messaging apps strip nuance from conversation, how \u201cdigital crowding\u201d erodes empathy and triggers aggression, how online political debates narrow our minds and distort our perceptions, and how advances in AI are further blurring the already hazy line between fantasy and reality.<\/p>\n

Even as Carr shows how tech companies and their tools of connection have failed us, he forces us to confront inconvenient truths about our own nature. The human psyche, it turns out, is profoundly ill-suited to the \u201csuperbloom\u201d of information that technology has unleashed.<\/p>\n

With rich psychological insights and vivid examples drawn from history and science, Superbloom<\/span><\/em> provides both a panoramic view of how media shapes society and an intimate examination of the fate of the self in a time of radical dislocation. It may be too late to change the system, Carr counsels, but it\u2019s not too late to change ourselves.<\/p>\n

Praise for Superbloom<\/em>:<\/strong><\/p>\n

“[A] great new book. . . . Carr is superb as a writer who retains a strong sense of humanity and who can write about the gradual loss of that humanity as technology makes life faster, more convenient, and less fulfilling.” \u2014Jonathan Haidt, author of The Anxious Generation<\/em><\/p>\n

“As digital technologies extend ever deeper into our lives, it\u2019s more critical than ever for us all to understand how online exchanges foment social breakdown \u2014 and Superbloom<\/em> stands out for its appeal to a broad swath of readers. Where so many technology books seem like sealed capsules, accessible only to those who know the lingo, Carr\u2019s vivid, jargon-free prose hits right in the solar plexus.” \u2014Elizabeth Svoboda, Undark<\/em><\/p>\n

“Carr does<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>a deep dive\u00a0<\/span>into the history of social media and examines the damage it’s doing to modern society. . . . As always, Carr’s perspective is<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>urgent and bracing, a necessary challenge to idealistic visions of a democratic internet.” \u2014John Keogh,<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Booklist<\/em>\u00a0<\/span>(starred review)<\/span><\/p>\n

“Carr persuasively sounds the alarm about the destructive nature of social media and the corporations that control it . . . A call to change our relationship with communication technologies.” \u2014Kirkus Reviews<\/em><\/p>\n

“We can\u2019t change or constrain the tech, says Carr, but we can change ourselves. We can choose to reject the hyperreal for the material. We can follow Samuel Johnson\u2019s refutation of immaterialism by ‘kicking the stone,’ reminding ourselves of what is real. It is an inspiring rallying call, and Superbloom<\/em> shows us what is at stake.” \u2014Philip Ball, Los Angeles Review of Books<\/em><\/p>\n

“[A] fascinating new book on the effects of the internet.” \u2014James Bennet, The Economist<\/em><\/p>\n

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“If you\u2019re wondering how we arrived at this pass, Carr is your man.” \u2014Martha Bayles, Hedgehog Review<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

“Carr has been sounding the alarm over new information technology for years, most famously in The Shallows<\/em>, in which he warned about what the internet was doing to our brains. Superbloom<\/em> is an extension of his jeremiad into the social media era.” \u2014<\/span>Jennifer Szalai, New York Times<\/em><\/p>\n

“[An] eye-opening new book . . . We have, Carr concludes, ‘been telling ourselves lies about communication\u2014and about ourselves.’ It\u2019s time we stop.” \u2014Sam Kean, American Scholar<\/em><\/p>\n

“This book might finally convince you to stay off social media \u2014 or at least get the apps off your phone.” \u2014Brianne Kane, Scientific American<\/em><\/p>\n

“To understand why the debate about technology is increasingly bleak, it is worth reading Carr’s incisive essay. Every new technological innovation, from the telegram to the television to the internet and now AI, has been accompanied by high hopes that it will lead to a blooming of human understanding. But we cannot resist gorging on our own desires.” \u2014John Thornhill, Financial Times<\/em><\/p>\n

“Superbloom <\/i>is . . . a perceptive commentary not merely on contemporary technology but on humans\u2019 permanent foibles. . . . Carr\u2019s advice calls to mind that of another horticulturally minded observer of our plight, Voltaire. The Frenchman\u2019s famous injunction in Candide<\/i>, that ‘we must cultivate our garden’ \u2014 less preening and more pruning, you might say \u2014 gains a new and timely resonance with Superbloom<\/i>.” \u2014Robert Bellafiore, National Review<\/em><\/p>\n

“Mr. Carr is a thoughtful analyst . . . We think being ‘connected’ to one another will produce feelings of connection. Mr. Carr shows again and again that it just ain\u2019t so.” \u2014Megan Cox Gurdon, Wall Street Journal<\/em><\/p>\n

“Carr set off an avalanche [with The Shallows<\/em>]. . . . [He] has a new book, Superbloom<\/em>, about not only distraction but all the psychological harms of the Internet. We\u2019ve suffered a ‘fragmentation of consciousness,’ Carr writes, our world having been ‘rendered incomprehensible by information.’\u201d \u2014Daniel Immerwahr, The New Yorker<\/em><\/p>\n

“At times alarming, Superbloom<\/em> is a profound reminder of what\u2019s at stake if we consume only ultraprocessed communication at the expense of real, embodied community.” \u2014Nicholas J. Weyrens, The Gospel Coalition<\/em><\/p>\n

“Nicholas Carr is widely considered one of the most astute technology critics of our time. He consistently spots paradoxes in our relationship with tech. . . . More communication with more people was once thought to be the key to social progress \u2014 a way to gain a richer, more empathetic sense of others\u2019 beliefs and circumstances. Unfortunately, Carr contends, communication at the scale and speed of social media has decreased goodwill and trust.” \u2014Evan Selinger, Boston Globe<\/em><\/p>\n

“This book is so timely. I say this as an extremely online person who has a deep love for the culture and history of the internet: maybe some of this was a bad idea.” \u2014Oliver Scialdone, <\/span>Lit Hub<\/em><\/p>\n

“[Superbloom<\/em>] picks up where The Shallows<\/em> left off . . . The book surveys the mediascape of algorithmically driven tech platforms and finds that it is not just driving us to distraction but is creating a less happy, more polarized and more dangerous world.” \u2014Poynter<\/p>\n

“Read This!” \u2014Saturday Evening Post<\/em><\/p>\n

“Nicholas Carr asks: how much progress is too <\/em>much progress? . . . The bestselling author explores the history of technological advances and questions where we need to draw the line between innovation and societal dislocation in Superbloom<\/em>. Groundbreaking and thought-provoking.” \u2014B&N Reads<\/em><\/p>\n

Praise for Nicholas Carr:<\/strong><\/p>\n

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\u201cNicholas Carr is among the most lucid, thoughtful, and necessary thinkers alive. He\u2019s also terrific company.\u201d \u2015Jonathan Safran Foer, author of <\/span>Everything Is Illuminated<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

“Nick Carr is our most informed, intelligent critic of technology.” \u2015Kevin Kelly, cofounder of <\/span>Wired<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cMild-mannered, never polemical, with nothing of the Luddite about him, Carr makes his points with a lot of apt citations and wide-ranging erudition.” \u2015Christopher Caldwell, <\/span>Financial Times<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cCarr\u2019s prose is elegant, and he has an exceptional command of the facts.\u201d \u2015Daniel Levitin, author of <\/span>This Is Your Brain on Music<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cOne of Carr\u2019s great strengths as a critic is the measured calm of his approach to his material\u2015a rare thing in debates about technology. He is neither a bully nor a nanny . . . and he has a gift for stating problems succinctly.\u201d \u2015Christine Rosen, author of <\/span>The Extinction of Experience<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cNick Carr is the rare thinker who understands that technological progress is both essential and worrying.\u201d \u2015Clay Shirky, author of <\/span>Here Comes Everybody<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThere have been few cautionary voices like Nicholas Carr\u2019s urging us to take stock, especially, of the effects of automation on our very humanness.\u201d \u2015Sue Halpern, <\/span>New York Review of Books<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cCarr has proven to be among the shrewdest and most thoughtful critics of our current technological regime; his primary goal is to exhort us to develop strategies of resistance.\u201d \u2015Alan Jacobs, author of <\/span>Breaking Bread with the Dead<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The acclaimed new book from the author of The Shallows, Superbloom: How Technologies of Connection Tear Us Apart is a searching, searing exploration of the way social media has warped our sense of self and society. “Fascinating.” \u2013The Economist “Bracing.” \u2013The Wall Street Journal “Eye-opening.” \u2013The American Scholar “Inspiring.” \u2013Los Angeles Review of Books “Urgent.” […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-664","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P4iw66-aI","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nicholascarr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nicholascarr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nicholascarr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nicholascarr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nicholascarr.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=664"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.nicholascarr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/664\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":771,"href":"https:\/\/www.nicholascarr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/664\/revisions\/771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nicholascarr.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}