Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Being Plugged In
Are we better off as people because we have such constant access to so much information, or have we lost sight of what is important because of all of that? Are we better people because we can google the capital of Rwanda in 10 seconds? Or is our reliance on technology making us weak? Make an argument!
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Argument! We are better people because the constant flow of information to our brains through quick internet checks creates a wider range of knowlege. Even if ALL of it doesn't stick, it's better than nothing if some does.
ReplyDeleteHmmm. I wonder. We need scientists with lab rats for this one, but here's a question...is it just amount of information, flow of massive amounts of data? Or is it interaction with that information that matters, that makes certain subjects and ideas stock to the brain?
ReplyDeleteFrom my experience, the quick checks quickly snowball into something of interest. The flurry of information gives choices and the ones that stick create interest and inspire further research. The issue at hand is personal curiosity.
ReplyDeleteYes, we are better off being able to access information quickly online. Sometimes we need to know something very quickly. Without access to the internet we would be limited to asking someone or going to the library to lookup the info. Libraries searches take a long time, because you need to find the right book or books and then you must reed through them until you find what you are looking for.
ReplyDeletei think that in a way technology has made us lazy and weak.
ReplyDeletefor example, math class, we dont use our brains, we just plug everything into our little calculators and boom...there's an answer.
we are now able to do pretty much everything through computers, etc.
that is also why machines and computers have replaced humans in many jobs.
I wonder if our access has given us the illusion of knowledge. We can access any information almost immediately, but we rarely delve fully into an area or an author wholeheartedly anymore. For instance, when I was 18 and a friend gave me the book Siddhartha, I ran out and read everything I could by the same author: Demian, Narcissus und Goldmund, Peter Camenzind, and about five other books. I started reading authors from the same time period, and I even started studying German so that I could read the author in the original language. What did I ever do with all of that knowledge? Absolutely nothing! I fear that students see studying or writing papers now as a google search...get what I need and get out. That is going to create some extremely shallow minds. Or I could be all wrong.
ReplyDeleteThough it may be true tht all of this access to technology and easy access to information has made us lazy, it has also helped us by making things more efficient. I believe tht people become very lazy and weak by always going online and getting their information in a matter of seconds. this is their only source of achieving information and get wired to the internet. thts what cuts them off from everything else tht is important.
ReplyDeleteI think that we are better off people because we have constant access to so much information because we as people are the ones providing all of the information.
ReplyDeleteAs people the way we rely on technology is somewhat pityful. I can't live a day without my iphone. I use it for paying bills and sometimes even researching things. It has completely made us reliant on nothing but technology. My math class I'm in now is even on the computer! I think eventually everything will be done on the computer and if your computer illiterate you won't go far in society now days. Technology is used for almost everything in our everyday lives. No one does anything manual anymore.
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