Does the Internet Make Humanity Smarter Or Dumber? 282
Nemilar writes "The Wall Street Journal is running a pair of articles asking whether the Internet is making humanity smarter or dumber. The argument for smarter is that the Internet is simply a change in the rules of publishing, and that the bad material is thrown away; the second story critiques the 'information overload' aspect of the Internet, claiming that we have traded depth of knowledge for velocity and span. What do you think? Does the Internet make you stupid?"
Of course it can... (Score:5, Insightful)
Of course it can easily make you dumber, just like TV can make you dumber. The similitude has become to apply after 1995 when big players (telcos, etc.) became Internet providers and when companies and marketing agencies have become to realize to potential of Internet as a marketing tool and viewed it as just like another tool similar to TV.
Don't get me wrong, it is still possible to use the Internet to get smarter or at least more informed but given what I observe, it for the typical Joe user that uses it in a way comparable to a modern T.V. where you can play games running on the cable company hardware, it makes him dumber.
You could be surprised by how many people are proud to announce breaking news to me because they received an chain-email containing a ridiculous story that takes me about 30 seconds to debunk. The most worrying part is that they actually deeply believed it before sharing it with me.
Some people believe anything they watch on TV and read in newspaper. Nowadays, a lot of people believe anything they see on the Internet just like if they had seen it on TV.
Well to their defense, this is the way it was marketed and sold to them by the big players, just like an extension to TV with very low emphasis on educating people about the technology, security, etc.
False dichotomies. (Score:5, Insightful)
> What do you think?
I think false dichotomies make good headlines.
Intelligence is tweaked not obtained. (Score:5, Insightful)
Check out dis funny picture of cat. [icanhascheezburger.com]
Actually I think it reveals our stupidity.
But the real issue here is that the article doesn't really address "Does the Internet Make Humanity Smarter Or Dumber?". Instead it should be entitled: "Does distraction, largely in part to the internet, make some individuals process information differently?". Sure distractions are always "bad":
When we're constantly distracted and interrupted, as we tend to be online, our brains are unable to forge the strong and expansive neural connections that give depth and distinctiveness to our thinking. We become mere signal-processing units, quickly shepherding disjointed bits of information into and then out of short-term memory.
But does a fragmented short term memory have permanent effects? He talks in the article about
In another experiment, recently conducted at Stanford University's Communication Between Humans and Interactive Media Lab, a team of researchers gave various cognitive tests to 49 people who do a lot of media multitasking and 52 people who multitask much less frequently. The heavy multitaskers performed poorly on all the tests. They were more easily distracted, had less control over their attention, and were much less able to distinguish important information from trivia.
To me, what led those people to do media multitasking in the first place? Perhaps the media did not engineer some level of "multitaskness" (not a word, I know) but that this multi-tasking ability was inherent to those individuals' respective personalities. This brings be back to my first point that the internet reveals our stupidity AND perhaps just our personality in general.
Double Edged Sword (Score:5, Insightful)
Does the Internet Make Humanity Smarter Or Dumber?
I tire of constantly pushing the idea that the internet is a double edged sword. It liberates you to pursue your desires whether they be learning, information, socializing, games or porn. In this liberating spirit, I claim it is possibly the greatest revolution yet in regards to information.
... time management for people has been an issue going all the way back through human history. Why must we stop now and act like 100% of our time must be spent on the internet playing Farmville?
Now it's just your choice to use it as you desire. And anyone who says they will only ever use it for something like learning is flat out liar and, frankly, missing the point of the internet. I waste time on the internet and I am productive on the internet. Use the full spectrum of the internet and you'll get the most out of it as what it is: a tool. The choice is yours
It enhances (Score:5, Insightful)
Technology, neither... (Score:3, Insightful)
I don't watch a lot of television, but when I do, I watch Discovery, The History Channel, or Animal Planet. I tend to learn something new every time I watch.
Now, if all you watch is reality TV and sitcoms, you're less likely to learn anything. Once again, it comes down to personal responsibility.
I think.. (Score:2, Insightful)
Neither (Score:5, Insightful)
It changes the way a person thinks.
Instead of worrying about retention of specific knowledge, I find myself caring more about how to find information again if I should need it. I've been treating the Internet like an extended memory bank. It certainly adds to my humility and (by extension) my critical thinking skills that it takes only a few seconds with Google to demonstrate the inferiority of my personal knowledge and experience on any issue. Questioning your convictions on any topic often leads to a new way of looking at things.
Dedicating a moment's thought to it, I don't believe the Internet can make a person dumber, but it can contribute to intellectual laziness - being convinced that the answer is out there if you care enough to look for it could conceivably make you less likely to try to figure something out for yourself.
SMRT! (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:I think.. (Score:5, Insightful)
Anonymous Coward (Score:5, Insightful)
Mark Twain once said of newspapers: "If you don't read a newspaper you are uninformed. If you DO read a newspaper, you are misinformed." The internet works the same way.
Re:Technology, neither... (Score:3, Insightful)
Exactly. It's just a tool. nothing more, nothing less.
(I would imagine sociologists love reality television, it's like putting a camera in a meerkats den)
Re:Of course it can... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:I think.. (Score:4, Insightful)
I think more critically now than I ever did before the Internet.
In fact, I'd posit that critical thinking is more important now than ever before. If you are incapable of it, the Internet is a constant stream of kidney-stealing Nigerian princes who will give you $1000 if you forward this email.
I don't have kids, but if I did I'd teach them first to question everything they're told. By anybody. Including me. And they should start with trying to think up a reason they shouldn't.
Re:Of course it can... (Score:3, Insightful)
Any medium of communication will appear dumber in the process of shedding what is essentially its elitism. But better means of communication is what has provided us with advances of civilisation.
"Wise elders" were whining at emancipation, combating illiteracy, "mass produced" books, telephone or radio, too.
Re:Of course it can... (Score:5, Insightful)
Those people announcing breaking news due to chain email would have been the same ones telling you aliens landed in the next county because their cousin knows a guy who knows a guy.....
They have always been here, and the internet has no effect on them. It didn't create them. But it quickly helps you prove them wrong.
More importantly, the net helps us access knowledge quickly, meaning we don't have to know tons of unrelated facts, all we have to know is where to find those facts.
That used to require trips to the libraries. Now its the Net.
The net teaches us to be very good at discerning bullshit from true facts, which is a valuable thing.
I don't think so. (Score:4, Insightful)
Now, it seems to me that people who didn't read before, when given access to intertubes, may gain knowledge they would never have gained previously (I know many people like this), hence they are less dumberer than they were before. It is also true that smart people can become even smarter with access to the internet because they are given access to a much wider and more diverse body of knowledge within which to embed and test their expertise (post-modernly known as Contextualising). Knowledge comes in bundles, but cleverality involves forming associations between bundles. The more bundles you know about, the greater the number of possible associations and transferable metaphors/techniques are available to you to solve any particular problem. The internet does not stop you gaining expertise in any one bundle, it just allows you to gain a greater understanding of the fields surrounding your particular chosen bundle.
Re:ROTFLMAO! (Score:3, Insightful)
Apparently the person who modded this redundant proves that the internet has in fact made us dumber, since he obviously doesn't understand the meaning of redundant.
tl:dr (Score:3, Insightful)
Maybe that would explain the growing use of "tl:dr", which is short for "too long, didn't read", which I'm seeing more and more on articles. The sad thing is that most of the time the people that add the line haven't written anything especially complicated or long.People are either getting stupider or lazier.
tl:dr; author thinks the use of tl:dr is a symptom of people getting dumber.
Re:Of course it can... (Score:5, Insightful)
Uh (Score:5, Insightful)
Did the printing press make us dumber?
The Internet and associated technologies like the WWW are an intelligence enhancer on a larger scale than that.
Re:Of course it can... (Score:5, Insightful)
> The TV makes people (especially kids) dumb
I am sure TV can be used in a limited manner (say 30 mins a day) to teach kids something. Unfortunately, you may have to search a bit or design your own programs since mainstream programming might not fit the bill most of the time.
As you mentioned, it is easier to use the Internet in a "filtered way" where you actually use it to enhance yourself. My point was that the typical Joe user isn't aware of this or that he is not interested is doing this, just like some TV users like to watch realty shows and sitcoms.
Some other posters have mentioned that the Internet is just making dumb people dumber and smart people smarter. In the end, it is the same for TV ;-)
Re:Intelligence is tweaked not obtained. (Score:4, Insightful)
It seems the past was forgotten by the people of Israel as well. They are on their way to repeating the discrimination and hate that was done to the Jewish population of Europe.
Today in Israel there is the non-Arab Israeli and then there is the Arab Israeli. One group has more rights in the state than another. In a healthy state, there would be an Israeli citizen, Arab or Jew or Christian, or whatever. All would have the same privileges, eg. ability to get building permits. But in the real Israel, all I see on the news is Arab Israeli homes being demolished because of "illegal housing" (that was built in 1960s, for example, but authorities just found out 50 years later????). New housing permits continually are denied to the Arab Israeli, while non-Arab Israeli are able to secure housing permits. This is especially true of Jerusalem. I am not even talking about occupied land here.
I see hate and terror of of "Israeli settler" illegally occupying land, *backed* by Israeli Army. I see counter-hate of Arab extremists, but these don't have the army on their side.
So please, do at least a normal analysis of the situation before you judge. Israel is not 100% victim here. Extremists in Israel are allowed to continue their discrimination, and this causes extremists to be formed in the groups being discriminated against. In plain words, they are creating the shitstorm that surrounds them and then they are crying about it.
Re:Of course it can... (Score:5, Insightful)
The similitude has become to apply after 1995 when big players (telcos, etc.) became Internet providers and when companies and marketing agencies have become to realize to potential of Internet as a marketing tool and viewed it as just like another tool similar to TV.
Actually, I do think the Internet makes some people dumber: they can write such grammatically atrocious sentences as yours, and be totally inarticulate, and still get a pass, while those who point this out (like me) get flamed for doing so. Therefore, dumbness is rewarded.
Re:Of course it can... (Score:5, Insightful)
I would disagree and say that *on average* it has made people smarter. Instead of having to go to the public library, it is faster to find information, do research and get answers. More importantly, it allows people to get multiple answers quickly to compare.
As to those that it is making dumber: If not for the internet, they would have been watching TV anyway. Some people can't wait to graduate high school, because then they can "quit learning", and they succeed in every way. Before TV, there were plenty of other opportunities to "do nothing", or at least, nothing worthwhile. Those people wouldn't learn new things even if they lived inside the Library of Congress.
As for regular people, or those with a thirst for knowledge, it has accelerated their ability to find answers and make it more entertaining and less of a drudgery (ie: faster to search in a browser than a card catalog, AND find the books, AND the right page...) I can't tell you how many times that I have looked something up, then found an interesting link, and ended up learning about some tangent idea as well. Yes, I did the same pre-internet, but net has allowed me to do this regularly, as in depth as I care for, and from many sources. At 45, I watch much less TV than 20 years ago, and spend a great deal of time learning, simply because it is fun and easy to do. I can't be alone in this.
No, but... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Of course it can... (Score:3, Insightful)
Wait. Can TV actually make you dumber? I can accept without hard evidence that TV can displace beneficial avenues for learning, thus making you more ignorant (among other things), but actually dumber? Does it have some kind of profound effect on our synapses of which I'm not aware?
I mean, maybe it's true. Maybe watching television makes you less intelligent, but I was hoping someone could source a study on the issue.
Intellectual isolation (Score:5, Insightful)
What the Internet has done is that almost no matter how obscure your preferences are, it's a group on the Internet for it. According to the latest stats there's 1.8 billion people online. Even if one in a million think like you, there's 1800 of them on the Internet. There's language barriers and some other details too, but still. Of course it's natural that like minded people meet, but on the Internet it's so extreme you run into groupthink - Exhibit A [slashdot.org].
Take for example the coming wave of elderly in the western world. Here on slashdot we have mostly technological/geeky solutions. Doctors for the most part have medical solutions. Economists has some monetary solutions. Each group can think because they all just read their own sites that they've understood what "everybody" thinks and what "consensus" is on how to solve it, in short that they're smart when really their solutions are shallow, unfeasible and incomplete because they haven't been challenged enough. You see it with some computer systems, all the geeks agree it's great but unless you get user testing from somewhere else it very often flops.
I don't think we've really gotten dumber on the fundamentals even though we search the Internet rather than know by heart, there's much less meaning in memorization and hand calculation but then I never felt that to be a valuable skill in itself - it's a bit like measuring your writings by your fountain pen technique. The real value is what you understand, your ability to draw reasonable conclusions. Knowledge is important because you need to know the facts and the context to draw those conclusions from. It takes different skills because so much on the Internet is bullshit, if ypo put someone who is used to only serious and reliable sources and put online they could end up being dumber. But the younger generation who knows the pitfalls, they can go much further.
I simply think the answer is that we're getting more specialized, which is neither smarter or dumber - just different.
Re:Technology, neither... (Score:0, Insightful)
Incorrect. I've been told many times that the answer to your problems is "google away". And google will find any retard's site, including that Jesus was an Aryan, tax cuts for the rich benefit the poor and that there is conclusive proof that Earth cannot be more than 5000 years old. You will also find such gems as why global warming is actually global cooling, how global warming is being used to tax the poor, the conspiracy about water carburetor, etc. etc. etc.
As someone already wrote, Internet exasperates the gap between the knowledgeable and the ignorant. The intelligent and knowledgeable person will easily benefit from extra information. The ignorant will simply become more retarded, finding more "proof" about their ignorant ideas.
CAPTCHA: astute
Re:Of course it can... (Score:2, Insightful)
Actually, I do think the Internet makes some people dumber: they can write such grammatically atrocious sentences as yours, and be totally inarticulate, and still get a pass,
This is because he actually provided thoughts and insights on the topic at hand and sharing them successfully with other human beings.
This 'dumb' thing as you call it is what most humans live for.
while those who point this out (like me) get flamed for doing so.
You provide nothing useful (and before you say it, neither am I right now) and somehow think that is 'smart'?
Very little was lost in translation when the GP did not follow your language rules, and a perfectly wrong lie can be grammatically correct with proper spelling just the same.
Therefore, dumbness is rewarded.
Yet you point out how someone (GP) is actually being productive and useful, so show how smart is rewarded, as well as demonstrate how usefulness spam that is grammar correction only serves to harm everyone involved which is NOT modded up
Your dumbness got no reward, and the smarter person making a point was rewarded with mods.
That makes you wrong on two fronts!
Both (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Of course it can... (Score:4, Insightful)
They have always been here, and the internet has no effect on them.
I call bullshit. Having the ability to get a message out to millions of people before it can be debunked is a giant effect on what they're saying.
We just seem more stupid (Score:5, Insightful)
The internet provides more opportunities for being stupid in public.
No. It's not the Internet. These are the causes: (Score:5, Insightful)
The Internet, in sharp contrast, is rich with content of very high value, easily accessed by anyone with even moderate 'net skills and literacy. The problem is if you come in with the average set of skills our culture and our pre-college school system provide you with, you aren't equipped to take advantage of that unless you did a lot of self-starting as well.
Anecdote: Recently, I interviewed young folks for an internship; what I wanted was an ability to read and write at a decent level, use a spelling checker, and basic (+-*/) math skills. I went though over ninety applicants before I found one. Over ninety!
But they all had lots of experience in in high school sports. And someone -- most assuredly not me -- had told them this would count for something. Maybe if the job is ditch digging, it would, but not in an office environment.
Slashdot is a collection of people so atypical - so skilled as compared to the average US citizen - that I can't even imagine comparing how they process tv and schooling as compared to the average citizen. When we ask here how television affects someone, we're asking a group that's already been selected for way above average skill sets. For instance, if I watch Fox News, I spend the entire time either laughing or shaking my head in disgust. But it's the most popular news broadcast in the country.
To paraphrase Phil Plait, it seems as though we're doomed.
Re:Of course it can... (Score:3, Insightful)
"The net teaches us to be very good at discerning bullshit from true facts"
No, the 'net doesn't teach us anything. We teach ourselves, as and if we choose to expose ourselves to knowledge and choose to incorporate it into how we experience and process our existence.
More specifically, while "the 'Net" can be used to debunk falsehoods, it doesn't *teach* discernment. That still involves a capacity for critical thought and an interest in not being easily susceptible to bullshit. Just because the 'Net offers information and or facts, does not mean people will magically be shown how to good use of them, when they might. You still need a person to think, even a little, on their own.
You can lead a horse to drink but he can still be a gullible ignoramus.
Humans are excellent at learning (Score:5, Insightful)
Cynical jokes aside, what's most distinct about humans, as compared to other living things, is the human capacity to learn. The mass of the brain is there less for calculating than for acquiring and linking more information.
We've had an enormous breakthrough in rapidly disseminating information and enabling self-education. That some people make blunders and that some mistaken ideas are more widely circulated does not contradict this. Asking whether the Internet makes us smarter is like asking whether providing light, water, and enriched soil makes plants grow better.
Years ago, there was an incredibly awful country song, "Where Were You When The World Stopped Turning," by Alan Jackson, with the lyric, "I'm just a simple man/I don't know the difference between Iraq and Iran." At the time, whenever I heard the song, I'd think, "So put the microphone down, go the library, and find an encyclopedia, dumbass." These days, whenever I hear anyone ask a question for basic information -- where is Turkmenistan? who is K. D. Laing? -- the answer is frequently, "I'm not sure -- check Wikipedia," or, "Google it."
Simple ignorance is more easily overcome than in the past. Willful ignorance is harder to defend.
Re:Of course it can... (Score:5, Insightful)
Ah, the truth gets out JUST as quickly, if not more so.
"A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its shoes" -- Mark Twain
Re:Intelligence is tweaked not obtained. (Score:4, Insightful)
coverage of the Israel/Gaza situation and the Terror Flotilla
No, tell us how you REALLY feel.
The raid was condemned by the UN; and Israel offered to truck in what they seized. To me, that doesn't sound like Israel found any proof of terrorism on those ships, and neither does it sound like their acts were clearly correct in the eyes of those in the know.
doorstop-IQ losers who parrot whatever they are told.
What about doorstop-IQ losers who systematically demonize one side of a conflict and absolve the other of all wrongdoing?
Re:No. It's not the Internet. These are the causes (Score:3, Insightful)
90% of what isn't crap must be crap as well.
Hence, 99.999...% makes a lot of sense.
Unfortunately, that happens to mean that 100% of everything is actually crap.
I suspected this all along.
Re:Intelligence is tweaked not obtained. (Score:1, Insightful)
1st of all... where the hell did that come from... seems a bit off topic....
2nd of all... you're right, israel is full of jewish bigots who believe they are God's chosen people and can shit all over anyone who isn't jewish. I'm all for the state of israel, but they need to join the rest of us in the 21st century and quit discriminating against people who are not the same as them
Re:Of course it can... (Score:1, Insightful)
The TV makes people (especially kids) dumb, because it is an impoverishment of the senses: Without touching, smelling and hearing (signal is not timed correctly) the brain development is stunted. The brain always learns, but we offer it shit. Ask a neuroscientist like Manfred Spitzer [google.com].
The written word makes people (especially kids) dumb, because it is an impoverishment of the senses: Without touching, smelling and hearing (there is no signal) the brain development is stunted.
This debate was had (in different terms at the time) at the advent of the printing press, and again with the advent of radio, and again with the advent of TV. Just like how every couple of years, some crusty old fart suddenly realizes that kids are rude and selfish & don't respect their parents, that their music is loud & offensive, and that society is in general just plain going to hell.
TV does not make anybody "dumb" or "smart". For one thing, "dumb" vs. "smart" is a measure of your ability to learn, not to be confused with knowledge which is a measure of how much you know. Unfortunately, most people are too dumb & too ignorant to understand this. The FACT of the matter is TV, just like with printed words or plain audio, gives you what you put into it. Sure, you aren't going to learn anything if you spend all afternoon watching Lifetime, Sci-Fi (syfy, sorry), or Fox News, because those channels are pure 'entertainment'. On the other hand, I've learned a great deal of history watching PBS and other informational channels, and managed to avoid a major blunder in a home renovation I started due to watching a show about fixing up old houses.
But don't overlook that information is not produced on the Internet.
Technically, it's not produced on paper, TV, or the radio either. That doesn't invalidate those a mediums as an educational platform.
Re:Comparisons (Score:2, Insightful)
That's a common theory. The world was better in the good old days.
However, it has the flaw that you actually have a choice. And you chose to do what you're doing today. Maybe you think you've made bad choices, and maybe you have. But unless you really change your way of living, I think that's good evidence that you, when it really comes to it, don't regret much at all.