Sunday, February 28, 2010
tech and smarts
I have heard from many people that this generation is becoming stupid from the Internet. I feel a bit insulted, but that generally happens when someone says you're stupid. I read an article on Discover Magazine's website recently that brought up a great point. It was in response to an article arguing that Google was making people stupid, due to the easy access of information, rather than the absorption of knowledge– a quick fix rather than actual learning. The author of the Discover article was arguing the reverse; that Google benefits us, as we are built for it. He claims that we are cyborg-like, and that the internet serves as an extended mind. This is similar to using an address book; you can remember some of the addresses, but it is much more practical and beneficial to store the information in another place and to use it when necessary. It was an interesting article, and made much more sense than saying that we are all being dumbed down. Some people might be, but others use the internet as an extra source of information to improve their intelligence and function.
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I have to say I agree with this, maybe I am not insulted however I do have to disagree that google is dumbing us down. I believe it has actually triggered our thoughts in mind to search for more information. Just think when you and your friends are sitting around you cannot think of an answer to a question. What do you do? Google it, you can even do it on most phones these days? Which is ironic, seeing how this class is discussing whether we are stuck in the device paradigm. I just feel like if you search the anwer to that question and you find it, you are more likely to remember it because those are the situations that you end up remembering. I just wanted to point out that I agree and that google is more of a gateway to find what we need quicker, and this in my opinion is better for us as "humans" or "cyborgs."
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