The Internet makes us dumber
Updated: 2011-06-14 15:44
(chinadaily.com.cn)
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Editor's note: We live in an age of information explosion and with a few clicks we can get access to an incredibly rich store of information. The Internet is, in some degree, changing the way we live, we work, we communicate, we learn, even we think. Then the question arises – is the Internet making us dumber? Here some experts offer their opinions.
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"What the 'Net' does is shift the emphasis of our intelligence away from what might be called a meditative or contemplative intelligence and more toward what might be called a utilitarian intelligence. The price of zipping among lots of bits of information is a loss of depth in our thinking." --Nicholas Carr, US technology writer |
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"Access to more information isn't enough -- the information needs to be correct, timely, and presented in a manner that enables the reader to learn from it. The current network is full of inaccurate, misleading, and biased information that often crowds out the valid information." --Gene Spafford, Purdue University CERIAS, Association for Computing Machinery U.S. Public Policy Council |
Baidu's website is seen on a laptop screen in this photo illustration. [Photo/Agencies] |
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"In gerneral,our personal independance on new ideas is under siege by social networks and Internet. We follow a lot and new insights are lacking because like buyer recommendations, we believe our social networks and follow their leads. It can make us vey dumb.The reality is that most people do not believe that the Internet is not edited and they believe everything they read or see on the web. When someone passes an idea, we rarely ask for facts." |
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"Today, a student can post his homework on his Facebook account and his friends will provide answers. We are increasingly outsourcing our minds to our networks. We depend less on facts today than we did a few decades back. Anything flows into the web and the world consumes." --Dr. Ndubuisi Ekekwe, Founder/President of the non-profit African Institution of Technology |
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"On Twitter you receive an endless stream of information, but it's also very succinct. You don't have to process that information. Your attention span is being reduced and you're not engaging your brain and improving nerve connections." --Dr. Alloway from the University of Stirling in Scotland |
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"In an actual discussion, the marshaling of information is cumulative, complication is acknowledged, sometimes persuasion occurs. In a Twitter discussion, opinions and our tolerance for others' opinions are stunted. Whether or not Twitter makes you stupid, it certainly makes some smart people sound stupid." --Bill Keller is the executive editor of The New York Times. |
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