--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: We become, after the arrival of the…" description: "\"We become, after the arrival of the printing press in general, more attentive more attuned to contemplative ways of thinking.\" — Nicholas G. Carr" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/026/nicholas-g-carr-18458_arrivals_we-become-after-the-arrival-of-the-print_201611.jpg" --- # We become, after the arrival of the printing press in… ![“We become, after the arrival of the printing press in general, more attentive more attuned to contemplative ways of thinking.” quote by Nicholas G. Carr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/026/nicholas-g-carr-18458_arrivals_we-become-after-the-arrival-of-the-print_201611.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/026/nicholas-g-carr-18458_arrivals_we-become-after-the-arrival-of-the-print_201611.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/026/nicholas-g-carr-18458_arrivals_we-become-after-the-arrival-of-the-print_201611.jpg) > “We become, after the arrival of the printing press in general, more attentive more attuned to contemplative ways of thinking.” [Nicholas G. Carr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-g-carr/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The printing press shifted collective focus toward deeper, more reflective thought patterns. **In simple terms:** Printing press encourages reflective thinking. Key Takeaway Embrace contemplation in the digital age. Themes technology reflection culture media history Mood thoughtful analytical Type observational philosophical When to use this quote - education - writing - personal development - media analysis Key Concepts information overload cognitive shift media theory Questions to Reflect On - How does digital media affect your attention span? - Can you cultivate deeper reflection despite constant connectivity? A Different Perspective May overlook the role of visual media in shaping thought. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Contemplative](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/contemplative/) [Printing press](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/printing-press/) [Thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thinking/) [Thoughts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thoughts/) [Way of thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/way-of-thinking/) ## Related quotes > [TV is bigger than any story it reports. It's the greatest teaching tool since the printing press.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fred-w-friendly/tv-is-bigger-than-any-story-it-reports-it-s-the-greatest-teaching/) [Fred W. Friendly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fred-w-friendly/) > [Since the printing press came into being, poetry has ceased to be the delight of the whole community of man; it has become the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-masefield/since-the-printing-press-came-into-being-poetry-has-ceased-to-be-the/) [John Masefield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-masefield/) > [Nothing could be more misleading than the idea that computer technology introduced the age of information. The printing press began that age, and we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-postman/nothing-could-be-more-misleading-than-the-idea-that-computer/) [Neil Postman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-postman/) > [What is the use of freedom of the press if the government is in possession of all the printing presses, what does freedom of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eugen-richter/what-is-the-use-of-freedom-of-the-press-if-the-government-is-in/) Eugen Richter > [Technological civilizations don't last long. You're all right until you get a printing press. Then a race starts between technology and common sense. And…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-mcdevitt/technological-civilizations-don-t-last-long-you-re-all-right-until/) [Jack McDevitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-mcdevitt/) > [Break up the printing presses and you break up rebellion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dudley-nichols/break-up-the-printing-presses-and-you-break-up-rebellion/) [Dudley Nichols](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dudley-nichols/) > [Things like social media and the Internet, of course, it's not going away. There is no cure for it. And this shouldn't be just…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlie-brooker/things-like-social-media-and-the-internet-of-course-it-s-not-going/) [Charlie Brooker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlie-brooker/) > [Think for a moment of the great agents and engines of our civilization, and then think what shadowy ideas they all once were. The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edwin-hubbel-chapin/think-for-a-moment-of-the-great-agents-and-engines-of-our/) [Edwin Hubbel Chapin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edwin-hubbel-chapin/) > [Even with the sacred printing press, we got erotic novels 150 years before we got scientific journals.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clay-shirky/even-with-the-sacred-printing-press-we-got-erotic-novels-150-years/) [Clay Shirky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clay-shirky/) > [The U.S. government has a technology, called a printing press (or today, its electronic equivalent), that allows it to produce as many U.S. dollars…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-bernanke/the-u-s-government-has-a-technology-called-a-printing-press-or-today-2/) [Ben Bernanke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-bernanke/) > [Ink is the blood of the printing-press.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-milton/ink-is-the-blood-of-the-printing-press/) [John Milton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-milton/) > [I am not offering this is a critique of the internet, its just that there are a lot of factors involved. It does offer…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noam-chomsky/i-am-not-offering-this-is-a-critique-of-the-internet-its-just-that/) [Noam Chomsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/noam-chomsky/) > [At Facebook, we’re inspired by technologies that have revolutionized how people spread and consume information. We often talk about inventions like the printing press…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-zuckerberg/at-facebook-we-re-inspired-by-technologies-that-have-revolutionized/) [Mark Zuckerberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-zuckerberg/) > [The U.S. government has a technology, called a printing press (or, today, its electronic equivalent), that allows it to produce as many U.S. dollars…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-bernanke/the-u-s-government-has-a-technology-called-a-printing-press-or-today/) [Ben Bernanke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-bernanke/) > [What gunpowder did for war, the printing-press has done for the mind; and the statesman is no longer clad in the steel of special…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-phillips/what-gunpowder-did-for-war-the-printing-press-has-done-for-the-mind/) [Wendell Phillips](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-phillips/) ## More by Nicholas G. Carr > [A lot of your mental energy goes to figuring out where does one word end and the next begin.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-g-carr/a-lot-of-your-mental-energy-goes-to-figuring-out-where-does-one-word/) [Nicholas G. Carr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-g-carr/) > [There are a whole lot of reasons to be very happy that our brains are able to adapt and adapt so readily because we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-g-carr/there-are-a-whole-lot-of-reasons-to-be-very-happy-that-our-brains-are/) [Nicholas G. Carr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-g-carr/) > [By putting the means of production into the hands of the masses but withholding from those same masses any ownership over the product of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-g-carr/by-putting-the-means-of-production-into-the-hands-of-the-masses-but/) [Nicholas G. Carr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-g-carr/) > [It's interesting to think about how the book changed us.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-g-carr/it-s-interesting-to-think-about-how-the-book-changed-us/) [Nicholas G. Carr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-g-carr/) > [I think if you look back through the intellectual history of human beings you can trace the way that intellectual technologies influence the way…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-g-carr/i-think-if-you-look-back-through-the-intellectual-history-of-human/) [Nicholas G. Carr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-g-carr/) > [One of the fascinating things about early writing on slates, on papyrus, even on early handwritten books, is for instance, there were no space…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-g-carr/one-of-the-fascinating-things-about-early-writing-on-slates-on/) [Nicholas G. Carr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-g-carr/) > [Culture is sustained in our synapses...It's more than what can be reduced to binary code and uploaded onto the Net. To remain vital, culture…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-g-carr/culture-is-sustained-in-our-synapses-it-s-more-than-what-can-be/) [Nicholas G. Carr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-g-carr/) > [What the book does as a technology is shield us from distraction.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-g-carr/what-the-book-does-as-a-technology-is-shield-us-from-distraction/) [Nicholas G. Carr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-g-carr/) > [In popular books and articles, information technology writer Carr has worried over the ways that algorithms like those employed by Google are reshaping the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-g-carr/in-popular-books-and-articles-information-technology-writer-carr-has/) [Nicholas G. Carr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-g-carr/) > [The brain likes to be efficient and so even as its strengthening the pathways you're exercising, it's pulling - it's weakening the connections in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-g-carr/the-brain-likes-to-be-efficient-and-so-even-as-its-strengthening-the/) [Nicholas G. Carr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-g-carr/) > [I think we begin to lose the ability to read in the deepest, most interpretive ways because were not kind of calming our mind…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-g-carr/i-think-we-begin-to-lose-the-ability-to-read-in-the-deepest-most/) [Nicholas G. Carr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-g-carr/) > [You can take a book to the beach without worrying about sand getting in its works. You can take it to bed without being…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-g-carr/you-can-take-a-book-to-the-beach-without-worrying-about-sand-getting/) [Nicholas G. Carr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-g-carr/) > [The practicality of technology may distinguish it from art, but both spring from a similar, distinctly human yearning.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-g-carr/the-practicality-of-technology-may-distinguish-it-from-art-but-both/) [Nicholas G. Carr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-g-carr/) > [I think what the book did in addition to its practical uses, is it gave us a more attentive way of thinking.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-g-carr/i-think-what-the-book-did-in-addition-to-its-practical-uses-is-it/) [Nicholas G. Carr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-g-carr/) > [I think that the book in some ways is the most interesting from our own present standpoint, particularly when we want to think about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-g-carr/i-think-that-the-book-in-some-ways-is-the-most-interesting-from-our/) [Nicholas G. Carr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-g-carr/) [Explore all 34 Nicholas G. Carr quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-g-carr/) ## More Arrivals quotes > [You are quite, quite wrong if you think that ... I find your happiness painful. What matters is that happiness - the golden day…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/winifred-holtby/you-are-quite-quite-wrong-if-you-think-that-i-find-your-happiness/) [Winifred Holtby](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/winifred-holtby/) > [Arrival = Prison, and the artist must never be a prisoner.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henri-matisse/arrival-prison-and-the-artist-must-never-be-a-prisoner/) [Henri Matisse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henri-matisse/) > [I see ... a pile of skulls and bones. For the first time since my arrival, what I see before me is too painful,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dith-pran/i-see-a-pile-of-skulls-and-bones-for-the-first-time-since-my-arrival/) [Dith Pran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dith-pran/) > [The future turns out to be something that you make instead of find. It isn't waiting for your arrival, either with an arrest warrant…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-h-lapham/the-future-turns-out-to-be-something-that-you-make-instead-of-find-it/) [Lewis H. Lapham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-h-lapham/) > [The beauty of inspiration for me is that you can't predict when it's coming. I like that it just pops up out of nowhere.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/scout-niblett/the-beauty-of-inspiration-for-me-is-that-you-can-t-predict-when-it-s/) [Scout Niblett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/scout-niblett/) > [“When you are waiting for a train, don't keep perpetually looking to see if it is coming. The time of its arrival is the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/when-you-are-waiting-for-a-train-don-t-keep-perpetually-looking-to/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Upon my arrival in the United States the religious aspect of the country was the first thing that struck my attention; and the longer…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexis-de-tocqueville/upon-my-arrival-in-the-united-states-the-religious-aspect-of-the/) [Alexis de Tocqueville](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexis-de-tocqueville/) > [Unconscious of your story, you are in its grasp; but with consciousness, an alchemical process begins: The solidity of the complex dissolves and you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/connie-zweig/unconscious-of-your-story-you-are-in-its-grasp-but-with-consciousness/) [Connie Zweig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/connie-zweig/) > [Life is a continual process of arrival into who we are.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maria-popova/life-is-a-continual-process-of-arrival-into-who-we-are/) [Maria Popova](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maria-popova/) > [Prison is a severe and terrible punishment; but for me, thanks to Arthur Balfour, this was not so. I was much cheered on my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bertrand-russell/prison-is-a-severe-and-terrible-punishment-but-for-me-thanks-to/) [Bertrand Russell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bertrand-russell/) > [Death in Somalia seldom bothers to announce its arrival. In fact, death calls with the arrogance of a guest confident on receiving a warm…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nuruddin-farah/death-in-somalia-seldom-bothers-to-announce-its-arrival-in-fact-death/) [Nuruddin Farah](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nuruddin-farah/) > [The arrival of Ade Akinbiyi gave everyone a lift. He's a natural born goalscorer.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/trevor-francis/the-arrival-of-ade-akinbiyi-gave-everyone-a-lift-he-s-a-natural-born/) Trevor Francis > [many writers believe in arrival without leaving home. They believe in talent but not skill.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/judy-delton/many-writers-believe-in-arrival-without-leaving-home-they-believe-in/) [Judy Delton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/judy-delton/) > [Our tomorrows must be met at the time of their arrival... with the HOPE they are as BEAUTIFUL as today!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joe-peterson/our-tomorrows-must-be-met-at-the-time-of-their-arrival-with-the-hope/) Joe Peterson > [The observations that have developed over the years have given us perspective about where we fit in. We are newcomers, really recent arrivals on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-earle/the-observations-that-have-developed-over-the-years-have-given-us/) [Sylvia Earle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-earle/) Browse all 173 Arrivals quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "We become, after the arrival of the printing press in general, more attentive more attuned to contemplative ways of thinking.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Nicholas G. 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