Comments on: The Tech Effect: Are Computers Making Us Stupid?

By: Chip Camden

Chip Camden — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 18:18:17 +0000

Yes, if you use your extra brain power for something else, then it does make you smarter. I’m afraid, though, that most people are more often than not made lazier instead.

By: Le Bishop

Le Bishop — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 05:29:36 +0000

The internet makes smart people smarter and dumb people louder.

By: joe

joe — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 03:32:36 +0000

Why remember something like a phone number when you don’t need to? You’re freeing up more space for more important things..

Using a computers’ memory is like writing down a note on your hand so you don’t forget something, except now your hand is infinitely big and you can see what other people have written on their hands.

By: web design company

web design company — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 23:07:15 +0000

###The Gutenberg Effect: Are Books Making Us Stupid? Clearly, having information available at our fingertips whenever we want just by going to our bookshelf or library is going to make us less reliant on our own memory, and hence more stupid. We no longer have to remember and practice the oral histories our elders taught us, relying on these “history” books to replace that time-honored practice. Mathematicians, engineers, and navigators will forget how to calculate logarithms and trigonometric functions, when they can just look them up in tables. Our graduates are becoming complacent. “I don’t need to memorise this stuff,” they say. “I can just look it up in my ‘text’ book when I need that information.” Has civilization come to a stand-still as a result of this horrendous technology?

By: Jenna McPhersin

Jenna McPhersin — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 20:38:57 +0000

I could agree and disagree to this. I agree that so much of our lives depend on computers and cellphone and sometimes we neglect our basic people skills. Don’t forget though, that there are several pros to computers and the software we have these days.

By: Nestor

Nestor — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 15:09:39 +0000

I think that becoming “stupid” or just losing the ability to think or memorize something does not depend entirely on technology. The brain, just like any other muscle in our body needs to be exercised, otherwise it will become numb and start to lose functionality.

Most of people have lost “not the ability”, but “the interest” in doing things without a computer or other electronic device. And don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that you should start doing your accountings in paper, but people now can’t do a crossword puzzle if it’s not online, you can’t play sudoku if you’re not in the web browser.

As for me, I try to do some of the “regular” stuff the “old fashioned” way, as long as I can. I like to exercise the brain doing puzzles and that sort of stuff and personally I don’t feel my brain getting any “stupid”-er…

More then technology, I would give credit to personal commitment and interest in having a “healthy” brain. But that’s just IMHO…

By: TLP

TLP — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 14:46:16 +0000

I myself welcome my new binary masters.

/bows

By: JR Raphael

JR Raphael — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 02:55:59 +0000

Indeed, you are correct, sir — and I would certainly hope that’s not something anyone would dispute. I might point out, though, that I never said “a few decades ago.” I simply said “decades ago” — which is, in fact, the case. But you know, given the nature of this article, it would have been hilariously ironic if I had gotten it wrong.

By: Chip Camden

Chip Camden — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 00:18:59 +0000

If you don’t believe me, just Google it.

By: Chip Camden

Chip Camden — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 00:18:00 +0000

Nietzsche died over 100 years ago, and lost the ability to communicate in the 1880’s. So it’s been more than a few decades since he said that.

By: Bobby

Bobby — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 21:24:32 +0000

Being that I was raised on technology, I might have a different point of view here. I don’t think technology is making us less intelligent, I feel that it gives each individual more time to dedicate towards something else rather than memorizing a phone number. Unfortunately the majority of people are lazy so they choose not to and waste their time watching TV or browsing myspace. That to me is what technology is doing; making the general population lazy, same as the TV, same as the car, same as the telephone. In every generation there is some sort of innovation that will make our lives a little bit easier and some people don’t like it, or at least like it right away. just my 2 cents

By: JR Raphael

JR Raphael — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 20:57:42 +0000

Well said, Dave. Well said.