Is the internet making us smarter?
August 14th, 2005
Well, if not smarter but definitely more aware of the world around us. Thanks to laptops, search engines and Wi-fi, people at conferences and in classes are asking smarter questions. During a presentation or a lecture, someone in the audience can Yahoo certain facts and understand the topic better which would help ask better questions. Some teachers say that today’s students are asking more questions than their predecessors, possibly because parents have access to the internet and when asked a question by their children, they can have a reply other than ‘Because!!’. If your kid was to ask you something you don’t know about, search Wikipedia and you should get the answer.
5 Comments
Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI
Leave a comment
Thank god for technology then… who ever said there’s no such thing as a stupid question didn’t get out much.
I love Wikipedia. It’s a rare day that I’m not on that site looking for something.
Good post! This has been a big question lately. I think absolutely it is! We literally have a world of information at our fingertips. For myself, the time I spend on the internet I would’ve probably spent watching television or talking on the phone neither of which are nearly as interractive as the web. Not to mention, I can talk on the phone and IM while surfing the web. The types of things people do on the internet (blogging, reading blogs and news, flickr, and usually learning new things to do on the web) are all very stimulating.
I’d even go on to say that computer and video games contribute to this. A video game (esp. now as opposed to the old school games) take a lot more thought than watching television.
I hear you Grand. You are so right about the gaming too
I definitely agree about the gaming as well.
Great post by the way!
I think that the internet is making us more globally aware in particular. For instance, as a South African I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to come into contact (and even form friendships) with so many different people from so many different nationalities. Which in turn helps the understanding and appreciation of other cultures, countries, etc. I imagine my perception of the world would have been quite different if the internet had not existed. It’s a powerful resource tool that amongst other things gives one access to not only hard, cold facts and figures, but also millions of different opinions and perceptions.
I can’t imagine life without it at this point.