IsTechnology making us more stupid and lazy?

[hunky]

my opinion is that we are becoming lazier and lazier with my tech, and also forgetting about things we learn in school, like simple mathmatics, how to spell and write letters, etc.

 

[provenlogic]

my opinion is that we are becoming lazier and lazier with my tech, and also forgetting about things we learn in school, like simple mathmatics, how to spell and write letters, etc.

NO, that's only true if you're inherently stupid to begin with. People who fail simple mathematics aren't spoiled by technology, they're just stupid, and sadly that describes a lot of the world's population. As for spelling, that's what spell check is for... It's called progress. And really, this formality attached to formatting letters, that's hogwash and old thinking... It's better off dead.

That kind of thinking (that technology is spoiling us) is promoted by people afraid of change and of things they don't understand. Technology isn't the problem, it's a solution. The problem is "old thinking" mixed with "new technology". We have to move forward, which sometimes means abandoning old ways of thinking and old outdated habits.

 

[elra]

I agree 100% with provenlogic.

 

[rareboy]

The introduction of technology has not made humans stupid. The invention of Google is of equivalent or even greater import than the printing of the Gutenburg Bible; it allows anyone anywhere to make correlative connections between databases almost instantaneously and continues to compress the time required for research and creation of new ideas.

On the other hand, it does seem that we have an increasingly functionally illiterate generation. Spelling aside (sigh), it seems that many people are just too lazy or even worse, incapable of correct grammar. This was likely the result of 'whole language' teaching in the last two decades (versus phonics and rote based learning), not technology.

By the way, I'm always amazed that they didn't call it 'Spel-Chek'.

 

[Paws]

my opinion is that we are becoming lazier and lazier with my tech, and also forgetting about things we learn in school, like simple mathmatics, how to spell and write letters, etc.

WTf r u talkin aboot??????????? OMG GTFO the internets!!!!!1111oneoneone










Yeah, that wasn't witty.

 

[rareboy]

I was wondering if anyone would catch Gutenberg......my faith is restored.

Oh and by the way, for people who don't believe that punctuation and formatting is important; ask the person who misplaced a comma in a contract that ultimately cost their company 16 million dollars whether it was jsut old school nonsense to have to learn this.

The first thing that each new employee in this company receives is an Oxford dictionary, which they must have at their desk at all times.

 

[rareboy]

....note the keyboard dyslexia above...this jsut (sic) wouldn't have happened with a good Cross fountain pen. sigh.

 

[unclaimedblessing]

I have actually known computer wizzes who couldn't tell time unless it was digital.
I remember as a young boy, our family owned neigborhood grocery store clerk was a Holocaust survivor. He was an elderly gentlemen who when speaking to the various customers could switch from English to Yiddish to Greek to Spanish to Italian and some Slavic languages. The cash registers weren't as sophisticated as todays so he would write the prices on the brown paper bag in pencil and add up a column of 20 or 30 items, in any language and never make a mistake.
I realize that computer specialists are highly trained and highly intelligent (and I'm not trying to detract from that) but my memories evoke a picture of people I respected who could still do their jobs during a power failure.

 

[Apollo]

I dont think we are getting stupider, but lazier yes. I am the perfect example of lazy. I am just SOOOO lazy. I also find it funny that people will search high and low for their remote even though you dont truely need it to change the channels.

 

[mike_n_herrin]

it depends on the type of technology you are talking about. spell check no i wouldn't say so. But maybe something like...the TV remote where you can cycle through your stations and volume without ever getting off your butt? then yeah maybe. ArcMap allows me to calculate the parameter and area of a lake in a few seconds. Before i had to get out this compass like thing and a huge sheet of paper and trace the outline of the lake. it took a while and was prone to mistakes, but now i can do it in like 3-4 minutes. that's sorta lazy, but it's also better in terms of accuracy. so i guess i'd say i think some things tend to lead to more lazyness and somethings are just better.