has the internet made us smarter or stupider?

[brianmanahan]

on the one hand, i feel the vast quantity of knowledge available in mere seconds has made many people smareter (myself included).

but on the other hand, i see comments on youtube and yahoo and it appears that most internet denizens have the IQ of a walnut.

this internet, it's a conundrum.

 

[shortylickens]

If you really wanna know, go read The Shallows, by Nick Carr.
I did last summer. Learned a lot.

 

[janas19]

Sigh.

 

[brianmanahan]

sometimes i wonder if we will eventually do like they did in dune, and outlaw all computers because of their detrimental affect on society

 

[Gillbot]

lazier

 

[brianmanahan]

sometimes i think about living alone on an island like tom hanks for 4 years, just so that i appreciate what i have more

 

[kevman]

The internet is tier 2 storage for or brains.

 

[fralexandr]

it really depends on what the definition of smart is.
for instance, if smart is the ability to process information logically the answer would be different than if you count "smart" as how much knowledge, or information we accumulate.

the internet allows us to have a wide and indepth amount of information at our fingertips, but in my opinion has no direct effect on one's smartness

 

[theprodigalrebel]

It's given the idiots of the world to power to shine their beacon of idiocy for the whole world to see. I am pretty sure there are just as many idiots and brainiacs out there today as there were in the pre-Internet era.

 

[TridenT]

Not smart enough to stop idiots like you from asking this question.

 

[brianmanahan]

Not smart enough to stop idiots like you from asking this question.

coming from you, that's high praise

 

[Jeff7]

It's given the idiots of the world to power to shine their beacon of idiocy for the whole world to see. I am pretty sure there are just as many idiots and brainiacs out there today as there were in the pre-Internet era.

Youtube comments.
D:

 

[Kaido]

I think it's made us more efficient.

Sure, I could memorize a ton of information for work...or I could just google it. I do on-site desktop IT support at my work; I work so much faster because I can just "google" things instantly to learn how to do them or solve a problem, rather than spending hours or days trying to solve a problem, or have to resort to nuking a machine just to get the user working ASAP again. The trolls would argue that real IT people should learn how to fix the problems, but I support over 200 users in a 3-shift environment, so time is money, and uptime is king. Thus, the Internet is awesomesauce :awe:

I think the anonymity brings out the worst in some people - Youtube comments being the prime example. Youtube is really useful for entertaining videos or learning how to do something like cook a meal or fix your plumbing, and the comments could be really useful as well, but most of them are trash. I also don't think that Youtube etc. has contributed to a reduction in attention span - I think it's just catering to how humans naturally work. Commercials on TV & radio used to be long, but then they got short - and that's about all the attention span we have lol.

 

[SKORPI0]

Easier to find out about practically anything.

Wouldn't be possible without the grunt work done by lots of researchers, known and unknown. Hopefully that information will be verified by disinterested parties to keep it accurate.

 

[RavenSEAL]

Not smart enough to stop idiots like you from asking this question.

 

[brianmanahan]

Easier to find out about practically anything.

Wouldn't be possible without the grunt work done by lots of researchers, known and unknown. Hopefully that information will be verified by disinterested parties to keep it accurate.

or possibly influential people will rewrite history. maybe even some people on this very forum!

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

It has made me more corrupt.
Take this test : If you see anything other than a sleeping puppy the internet has ruined you!

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2224063

 

[Dude111]

The net has definetly MADE US SMARTER by getting us INFO on things we wouldnt have otherwise!

 

[DrPizza]

No, the Internet hasn't made people "smarter." It has merely facilitated the acquisition of basic knowledge, which is at the lowest cognitive level. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloom's_Taxonomy for a bit more information.

Being able to recite Babe Ruth's home run statistics within 30 seconds doesn't mean that someone is any more capable of figuring out which hole the square peg goes into.

However, I do believe that the Internet has been a very useful tool for smarter people to grow and develop. By itself though, it doesn't make people smart.

 

[MovingTarget]

Lazy and stupid...

 

[Paul98]

The problem is that people don't know what to do with the information they get off the net. Knowing information is meaningless if you don't know how to analyze that information. I wouldn't say that the internet would make you dumber or smarter. The problem is that dumb people think they know what the information they looked up means when really they have no clue, and don't have anyone to correct them. Then they find someone else who believes the stupid thing they believe and it gets worse and worse. The smart people do the same thing but the dumb people won't listen to them as they already think they know what it means.

 

[Jeff7]

No, the Internet hasn't made people "smarter." It has merely facilitated the acquisition of basic knowledge, which is at the lowest cognitive level. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloom's_Taxonomy for a bit more information.

Being able to recite Babe Ruth's home run statistics within 30 seconds doesn't mean that someone is any more capable of figuring out which hole the square peg goes into.

However, I do believe that the Internet has been a very useful tool for smarter people to grow and develop. By itself though, it doesn't make people smart.

It's turning us into neurons within the brain of the Internet. Indexers.


(There's a fun thought - if the Internet ever could become intelligent, would we ever recognize it? Does a neuron know that it's part of a brain?)

 

[brianmanahan]

It's turning us into neurons within the brain of the Internet.


(There's a fun thought - if the Internet ever could become intelligent, would we ever recognize it? Does a neuron know that it's part of a brain?)

 

[dighn]

No, the Internet hasn't made people "smarter." It has merely facilitated the acquisition of basic knowledge, which is at the lowest cognitive level. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloom's_Taxonomy for a bit more information.

Being able to recite Babe Ruth's home run statistics within 30 seconds doesn't mean that someone is any more capable of figuring out which hole the square peg goes into.

However, I do believe that the Internet has been a very useful tool for smarter people to grow and develop. By itself though, it doesn't make people smart.

True, but it's also a source of constant and endless distractions, potentially making many people "dumber".

 

[Zorander]

Depends on how the individual has been using the internet. It is, after all, just another tool, albeit a very useful one.