The question in many people’s minds especially educators is “is Google making us stupid.” Some people see the internet as a necessity of life. Others are realizing that there is an “uncomfortable sense that someone or something has been tinkering with our brains.” Internet, especially Google, has taught us to use critical thinking skills differently and has made a wealth of resources available right at our fingertips. Reading lengthy articles or books used to be a piece of cake. People used to read for their own leisure, but now with the use of media and the World Wide Web there is no need to read, except for academics. Even when people read two to three paragraphs they skim it. This dependence has all been thanks to the internet.
Also the reason for writing meaningful pieces had declined. One of the writers by the name of Friedrich Nietzsche in 1882 had bought himself a typewriter. His work was not as creative and engaging as it had been while he was writing on paper. His composer noticed a change in his writing style. He says that “thoughts in music and language often depend on the quality of the pen and paper.” Nietzsche replied back by saying “our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts.” His arguments had “changed from arguments to aphorisms, from thoughts to puns, from rhetoric to telegram style.” This all happened because of the convenience that the typewriter had provided. Writers no longer have to think for themselves and later the internet made people even more dependent on quick and fast facts and news.
Other than writing and dependence on the World Wide Web it has also led to seeking “maximum speed, efficiency, and output to organize work and configure the jobs of the workers.” It became known as the Taylor system. He defined it as The Principles of Scientific Management. Google is trying to make a perfect search engine. Of course this is impossible; nothing can be perfect can it. With how close scientists are coming in artificial intelligence it is hard to tell how the internet will look in the future. Pretty soon the power of the human mind will be overrun by the overall convenience and man made reliance on the internet. With the use of new technology since the time of the Industrial Revolution, it has greatly shaped the way that we see the outside world. There is no way to know where we will be forty years from now, but hopefully we will all keep to our own intelligence and not the intelligence that is displayed on Google.
