Are we more edumacated because of the intertubes?

[techs]

I see people who claim the internet has really spread a lot of "knowledge" and that people are now better "educated" because of the web.

I don't think so. I think a lot of people know just a little bit about a lot more things, and now think they are experts. I think the internet has actually caused many people to know less in depth about many things. Wiki takes ideas that need whole books to even begin to understand and puts them into a few paragraphs.
Yet, I think the people who read those few paragraphs (or perhaps just the first few lines) THINK they know a lot more than they do.

Are the intertubes turning us into a nation of trivial pursuit winnars who think they know everything?

 

[Insomniator]

More knowledge less educated, or the other way around. Definitely not better at both...

 

[Ruptga]

You have a good point, but in my experience people will act that way whether their education comes from internet or official classes. So I'd say yes, the internet does educate us, it's just that it's about as ineffective as every other method.

 

[spidey07]

I'm sure there is an actual decline in actual knowledge and ability to learn. There's no need to remember or understand things when you can just look it up on the web.

 

[nakedfrog]

I know I've learned a lot in my fifteen years on the web.

 

[Kadarin]

Originally posted by: spidey07
I'm sure there is an actual decline in actual knowledge and ability to learn. There's no need to remember or understand things when you can just look it up on the web.

I have to agree with this.

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

ATOT has taught me much about the world.

 

[James Bond]

I feel like there are so many little facts, definitions, etc that I could only find using the internet. I'm sure that without it I would still pursue knowledge in many areas, but having it at my fingertips makes it doable.

It's only 10:30AM right now and I've already looked up two different things on Wikipedia. I guarantee you that I would not know the exact definition of "entrapment" if it wasn't for the internet

 

[Gooberlx2]

I think general amounts of knowledge, education and understanding have increased. People are more easily exposed to bits of information from a myriad of subjects they may have never considered before. Most of the people who would have succeeded (become educated/experts in a field) without the internet will still succeed with it. It's also possible that a number of potential slackers may have been able to find their "cause".

At the same time, the people who were never interested in becoming educated or experts will remain so...but they might be a bit better at trivial pursuit than they would have been 20 years ago.

 

[lxskllr]

The internet is great at spreading knowledge. Wikipedia is a perfect example. Most of the time, you don't need to know something in depth. You just want a cursory overview, and Wikipedia provides it. It saves a trip to the library, and pouring through volumes just to get the information that's really needed. If you do need something in depth, the internet also provides resources to get that information. You can either get it online, or get guidance to finding the best physical resources for your needs.

 

[effowe]

I feel that the internet has greatly increased my knowledge on a number of subjects. Fifteen years ago the only hope I had finding out about any number of esoteric things relied on whether or not I could find it at the library. Now I can learn about anything under the sun, even if it's just a brief synopsis. We gain so much by being able to share information with each other worldwide instantaneously, I think that negates anything 'bad' that is a result of it.

 

[AreaCode707]

I think that the internet has provided a public voice for those who otherwise would never have had one, and people think that their opinions and understandings are more valid because they have a method of publicly expressing them. This leads to people more adamantly insisting upon the truth of their opinions, where before they would have allowed more room for discourse and change. While the net provides more educational resources than we would have had access to before, we are less receptive to actually allowing that information to modify our view of the world, more polarized in how we engage with ideas. Therefore we are more educated in the sense of knowing more facts, but less educated in the sense of being able to utilize that knowledge to come to a balanced view of the world.

 

[esun]

While the Internet has exacerbated the effect that you claim (i.e., people to believe that they know more than they do), it has at the same time caused them to know more. I can hop on Wikipedia and learn more about a topic than I could have with hours (or days) of searching elsewhere. I have access to thousands of IEEE papers any time, whereas in the past I'd have to purchase archived copies of the journal and wait for them to be shipped. Even if this ability maybe makes people think they know more than they do, the fact that they know more than they would have otherwise is still a huge plus.

 

[vi edit]

I think it's made for a more informed general public, but not necessarily a more intelligent or wise one.

Acquiring information is much different than applying information. Any idiot with a web browser and an internet connection can do a google on any topic they want. But if they don't do their due dilligence and backtrack the validity of the reporting website or apply that new gained knowledge in a useful manner then it's all a waste.

I think for the people that would have gone to a training class, picked up a book or just started fiddling around with stuff on their own to learn something - the internet has been a nice resource for them.

But for those that were too lazy to do those things anyway the internet is just further handicapping them from any real learning and enabling them to be even lazier.

 

[Miramonti]

Exposure to more ideas and information can be great for many people who are thoughtful about what they are exposed to, and the internet facilitates that.

On the other side of the coin, as a result of the internet, I suspect there are more people than ever wanting to pee on their partner's faces during sex.

 

[CPA]

A quick perusal of P&N should confirm your theory.

 

[RichUK]

Simply put, yes.

After all, the internet is the biggest library in the world and google is an excellent search engine.

 

[ScottyB]

Formidable obfuscations of verisimilitude perform perfunctory acts of matriculation in a world devoid of cerebral interactions.