Buzz Out Loud Lounge: Is the Internet dumbing us down?
youtube, myspace...
by shadzofsilver - 6/23/07 6:50 AM In reply to: Topic is misleading by IvegottheskillYou have no idea how much time and effort people put into their myspaces. If nothing else, that site takes up valuable time.
Youtube has SOME intellectually valuable videos. Then there is the other 99.9%... the mindless content, which DOES dumb you down and waste your time, albeit occasionally entertaining (12 year olds trying to break-dance, people launching roman candles at each other, dogs chasing rabbits...)
Wikipedia is no different from any other source...
by Nicholas Buenk - 6/24/07 11:35 AM In reply to: Topic is misleading by IvegottheskillIn that everything has errors, one should not rely on one source. I would rely on Wikipedia as much as Britannica I think it has a similar standard. But with both if you need absolute accuracy, look for other sources to check and compare.
Biggest loss--the power of critical thinking
by temuchen - 6/23/07 11:41 PM In reply to: Is the Internet dumbing us down? by rydogg7070I am a regular and frequent user of Google and various other sources of online information. I am also an MCP programmer and developer and electronics specialist, so I am not a Luddite anti-technologist. However, the proliferation of information online which is either deliberately or unintentionally just plain wrong, combined with the "sound-byte" nature of many information sources, has led to a situation in which rotuine acceptance of erroneous information is commonplace.
The kind of in-depth understanding of history, issues, concepts, etc. which arises from doing thorough research into the subject cannot be obtained from the piecemeal information grabbing the Internet has made possible. In college, I recall having to do the research for papers, and reading numerous sources and making note cards which reflected _all_ of the questions regarding the thesis, not just those which agreed with my approach to the paper, in order to make a properly reasoned argument in the paper. Failure to do so, at least back then, would have meant failure of the paper.
Now, when one is researching a question online, it is all too easy to locate sites which agree with one's predetermined opinions and thoughts and to ignore those which do not. The ability to apply critical thought to the obtaining and evaluation of information is the most egregious of the negative effects brought about by the Internet. I've noticed this particularly in the area of politics and history, from listening to conversations of those who are, shall we say, not well read. Whether their bent is Al Franken or Rush Limbaugh, they seem unable to accept that there is any validity to any arguments counter to those that they have heard or seen expressed in their preferred venues, or to have ever thought, "I wonder what those on the _other_ side of this issue have to say?"
Great commentary, temuchen...thank you.
by cyndymcc - 6/24/07 8:14 AM In reply to: Biggest loss--the power of critical thinking by temuchen- Cyndy
Are you insane -- or just asleep?
by TomMariner - 6/24/07 9:13 AM In reply to: Is the Internet dumbing us down? by rydogg7070Last night I drove past a library in a neighboring town. Ten years ago it had a repuration as a research source because of its expensive subscriptions to services that indexed periodical publications. Compared with the results I get from a single ill-conceived search on the least effective engine on the net, eight hours of work in the library was a gross anachronism.
Our standards of accuracy are infinitely higher and the breadth of thought and the links to similar concept so powerful that the idea of "dumbing us down" is laughable. I invent medical devices and the quality and timing of our products has improved so much from the intervention of the Internet it is stunning!
But a look at the publisher and sponsor of the book in question does shed light on the view. Since the book does bring up the point of marginalising the "main stream media" one can understand the biased statement. MSNBC is so dependent upon "dumbed down" viewers who do not research their bombastic statements that they indeed should fear a public that verifies broadcast distortions and makes a decision to forgoe viewing for something more "balanced". I know the preceding are code words for some, but the fact is that the Internet has so enriched our intellectual experience to suggest otherwise questions the sanity of the original writer.
I don't think the reference is to the academic element.
by fbbbb - 6/24/07 12:31 PM In reply to: Are you insane -- or just asleep? by TomMarinerClearly for those who know how to optimally use the resources at hand, the Internet is a boon. Like you I have options which would have been unbelievable to me just fifteen years ago available now.
But that is not the point the author is making. He's making commentary regarding the social element of the Internet. The way I would summarise it would be that it dumbs down 'median' individuals further and removes some of the protection that the pre-Internet age had in order for this not to take place because it breaks down the chain of authority in key areas.
We live in a society where increasingly the rich get richer while the poor - whether you see it or not - get poorer. This will be a global process, not a local one. And the same I think goes for the Internet viz-a-viz dumbing down. As media and other information sources panders ever more to your prejudices and wants and itself increasingly is moving towards lacking any sort of oversight, the smarter will get smarter while the dumb or average gets dumber. And the interesting thing will be that this will be achieved by self-choice.
I think 'the cult of the amateur' is very real, whether it's a positive or negative.
What happened to the concept of a liberal education
by anyport - 6/25/07 9:21 AM In reply to: Is the Internet dumbing us down? by rydogg7070First, if you think that the term "liberal education" has to do with your political ideology, you might be one of the people I'm writing about. My observation of the young people I have hired in recent years is that their general knowledge of the world, the arts, other religions and history has become more and more limited. Nor do I observe any in depth knowledge or interest in current events, and these are events that will have a profound influence on their lives.
As another writer or two have mentioned, it's not that the internet can't be a powerful reference tool, but it's that it's so easy to find only the ideas you want to find, and they're often condensed by someone with minimal background knowledge.
However, it's not just about or caused by the internet. TV news has become the same. There are fewer in depth reports, and more video bites. We see reporters who don't exhibit any depth of knowledge about the issues they report ... nothing but pretty, talking heads. At the local level, TV news has become the National Inquirer of the air. Fires, car cashes, shootings, and the current drunken celebrity make up the evening report. It's cheap to produce, and it sells soap.
It's a sad commentary when the Daily Show starts giving more information than the network news. I'm concerned that attention deficit has become our national malaise.
Attention Deficit Disorder
by rydogg7070 - 6/25/07 1:02 PM In reply to: What happened to the concept of a liberal education by anyportI suffer from a mild case of this, although I don't know if it truely is what I suffer from. Every since I was a little kid I had trouble focusing. My mind would just wander aimlessly, even with topics I enjoyed. I got put on Ritalin when I was in 6th grade, unfortunatly I can't remember if that helped me or not. However I was really into technology, video games, and would jump at the chance to help my dad build or repair his PC, could this have had an impact on my adult attention, or, do I really have some sort of disorder now? Could it really be a clinical disorder, or just the fast paced, news bite, tech world we live in today? Or a combanation of both?
Could a side effect of the way we are growing up, in such a fast paced world, not being able to focus on anything for an extended period of time, be causing this global pandemic of ADD in our nations youth. Does it only effect the youth, growing up in a technological world? How many childern learn to use computers, cell phones, starting at age 5? Is that beneficial, or detremental to their attention span? What future does a child see now, without technology. Will future generations grow up an ask what it was like NOT to control technology with our minds? I'm half rambling here, half my lack of attention span and focus, and half that I work in a tech support center, so calls I get will break my train of thought... heh.
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