Has the internet made us dumber or smarter?

[Gracious Warrior]

We had this debate in class today. It was very lively and thought provoking.

My sense is that the internet has made us dumber but more informed, if that's possible.

We know a lot more about culture and current events, but most of the thinking we used to do now gets done by our smart phones. In other words, we know a lot more stuff but have a reduced capacity to think critically about it.

 

[SalvadorCollie]

Both, the news is out there, but both sides fight to hide the truth of the other side. Middle ground is what we need. Truth on both sides.

problem is people marry themselves to a party.

Internet shows you what you want to see.

 

[Zinger]

For projects/papers I often copy-pasted stuff from the internet in school and passed on other peoples work as my own, without doing any research myself.


But Internet is the greatest info resource there is, if used responsibly.

 

[Hellowhosthat]

It's given people access to more information but also gives people access to a lot of poorly sourced information. I think a lot of the problem is that people don't do the groundwork in subjects and then try to interpret advanced information in them.

 

[Fox by the Sea]

dumber, more partisan, more isolated.
which is surprising.

 

[Takes Two To Tango]

Very good question.

I'd say the internet overall has been beneficial rather than harmful in the long run. Obviously every tool has it's pros and cons, but I think the pros out weigh the cons here imo.

 

[Boxingfan998]

Just evaluate how much of your internet time is actually productive/useful.
The answer is clear, it's making people dumber.
Though there is the potential for it to be a tool to become smarter, provided the user actually is very productive on the internet, which is not often the case due to the inherent problems with the internet (mainly the presence of malignant financial/corporate actors that rely on algorythms made to prey on the brain's addiction patterns).

It's a little bit like alcohol or any other drug.
You have a good part of the population that will abuse alcohol and become alcoholics.
Then you have a good part that will enjoy alcohol in moderation and never become alcoholics.

But to a large part of the masses, the internet can be a real problem.

 

[StonedLemur]

We had this debate in class today. It was very lively and thought provoking.

My sense is that the internet has made us dumber but more informed, if that's possible.

We know a lot more about culture and current events, but most of the thinking we used to do NIW gets done by our smart phones. In other words, we know a lot more stuff but have a reduced capacity to think critically about it.

As a whole it has made us dumber, however a small portion has greatly benefitted from the amount of information out there.

 

[Zax0r]

Depends what kind of person you are. The internet is great for learning about new topics and gaining knowledge on subjects you want to learn about. You can gain greater perspective on people, other cultures etc. It can change your whole viewpoint or outlook. Historically people were just products of their enviroments and had to venture out to gain such knowledge. So in that regard the internet is awesome.

Other areas of the internet like social media etc however are cesspools of ignorant fucks who have no knowledge on or about anything,but...my god must their opinions be heard. I think if you avoid social media the internet is a great thing.

 

[SSgt Dickweed]

I tried to write cursive recently and it's awful AF. Not that cursive matters.

 

[GergreG]

Both. It has provided a platform for absolute morons to express themselves. Flat earth is a perfect example. It is also a great tool to learn stuff - but you have to navigate through all the bullshit.

 

[MichiganMMA1978]

So much knowledge in the palm of our hands, yet we use it to watch cat videos....



No offense @lsa

 

[Chesten_Hesten]

Once the aliens come and infultrate our internets, we're done.

 

[genecop]

Yes…

 

[lsa]

So much knowledge in the palm of our hands, yet we use it to watch cat videos....



No offense @lsa

cat videos are awesome

 

[IndyCovaHart]

If you’re already smart, the internet has made you smarter and if you weren’t, then you’ve watched Charlie Bit My Finger over a million times.

 

[My name is]

It's made dumb people appear smart

 

[fingercuffs]

I'd be a bit wriggly without @Rebelfett
But if he he didn't bubble up what do you reckon?

 

[Dadbod Dorado]

Dumber.

I'm generalizing but:

People can't do basic navigation or read a map even for short road trips; just follow the GPS instructions.

We have all the instructionals in the world but we won't try anything without them, so our sense of experimentation and discovery is lessened.

We have access to all of the information in the entire world yet we're still falling for conspiracy theories, pseudoscience, quackery, pyramid schemes, scams of all kinds, etc.

We can do almost anything in the world on the internet but so many people are literally addicted to extreme content on very questionable sites, communities, and platforms where they spend most of their time.



I admit that I've learned a lot of things thanks to internet, and we're better off in many ways.You can do really amazing things with the internet. But in terms of critical thinking skills or critical life skills, I'm not sure the internet has been a net benefit for most people.

 

[Streeter]

When the internet became more about spreading ideas than information is when it started making us dumber.