The Internet and You

[dlavery]

Originally Posted by sciguy125

Slashdot ran an article today about the internet making people less intelligent. I'm not sure if it's made me stupider, but it has definitely made me lazier and has seriously messed with my memory.

I no longer have a reason to retain information for very long because all the information in the world is at my fingertips. Between Wikipedia and Google, I can probably answer 90% of my questions in less than 5 minutes. Last week, I watched the same documentary twice because I forgot that I already saw it. One of the comments sparked something and I remembered watching it previously. I've found that I can't even remember the date for longer than it takes me to write it down. There's just no reason to remember things with information so handy. I'm no longer capable of remembering specific facts, just general concepts. I just forgot what I wanted to say about that...seriously - although that might be from fatigue rather than IIMADS (Internet Induced Memory and Attention Deficit Syndrome - pronounced eye-mads...I just made a new word!). I think I wanted to point out that the only way for me to remember details is to keep seeing and using them. Although, I think that's more along the lines of brainwashing rather than remembering.

I've also become unbelievably lazy since I started using the internet regularly. On a few occasions, while doing homework, I've actually gotten up out of my chair and walked to my computer to Google something rather than flip through my textbook. Google is just so much more efficient. I can search billions of pages in seconds and get exactly what I need. Once I find a page, my browser can search for specific words in the text. You just can't beat that. I can also order things and have them delivered rather than go to the store. Why should I drive to the store, root around, and pay sales tax if I can just have someone send stuff to me?

I was concocting a really great argument fully describing why IIMADS (that is a great acronym!) is something to be avoided at all costs, and why the appropriate application of self-discipline to prevent the onset of Internet-Supported Stupidity (ISS) would be a highly desireable trait. But then I realized that with all the information already available on the Internet, it was virtually certain that someone would already have had to make the argument, and I should be able to just reference it. One quick search and presto! There it was! So rather than tell you why IIMADS and ISS are not good things, I will just refer to this post and let it speak for me. After all, why should I have to think when someone else has already done it for me?

(where are the HTML "irony" tags when you really need them!)

-dave