Digital media have made creating and disseminating text, sound, and images cheap, easy and global. We are living through a similar explosion of publishing capability today, where digital media link over a billion people into the same network.We actually spent a lot more time watching "Diff'rent Strokes" than reading Proust, prior to the Internet.We are now witnessing the rapid stress of older institutions accompanied by the slow and fitful development of cultural alternatives. Just as required education was a response to print, using the Internet well will require new cultural institutions as well, not just new technologies.There is no easy way to get through a media revolution of this magnitude; the task before us now is to experiment with new ways of using a medium that is social, ubiquitous and cheap, a medium that changes the landscape by distributing freedom of the press and freedom of assembly as widely as freedom of speech.I agree that the internet is a tool and resource for finding information.
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The referenced article is very interesting, as it touches upon the positive and negative impacts of technological advancements on intellectual progress. I personally don't think that the Internet makes us smarter or dumber, rather it helps us be more efficient and resourceful information gatherers. Intelligence is based upon one's acquired knowledge base, & the internet actually makes this process easier by placing much valuable information at our fingertips. However, the Internet also provides us with many low-quality informational distractions which can hinder our knowledge gathering process. The key is to not allow these distractions to occupy too much of our time and attention. Society, as a whole, needs to ensure that the endless hours spent online are not all devoted to youtube, blogging, etc. We need to refer to the readily accessible & trusted news sources in order to have a clue as to what is going on in the world. As the saying goes ... Knowledge is power. The internet provides us with the opportunity to become more informed individuals; we just have to make sure we use it wisely.
ReplyDeleteI agree 100% that the internet is a good tool for research and gaining information but making people smarter, I do not think so. Take for example, in a classroom filled with your fellow classmates having their laptops and a question is asked about the current situation in the BP oil spill. The next reaction is for people to google the answer. This does not make them smart but rather the internet a very useful and fast means of gathering information.
ReplyDeleteBut in reality part of what you read sticks to your memory, so when next a question about the BP oil crisis arises, one is able to give a good argument. So yes in the long run the internet has made us smarter..
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