Is Google Making Us Stoopid?

Nicholas Carr's article raised some interesting questions about society today, how we are collecting information, and how little we are actually reading.

At the same time, while I may not have been struggling to get through the article, I did find myself at times checking my phone, looking at the TV, or checking scores of games amidst the article.

Maybe it is not just Google that is making us stupid, but all of technology. TV was going to be the thing that rots everyone's brain, now I feel my TV is trying to keep up with getting my attention at all.

XBox 360, Playstation 3, iphones, ipods, Blackberries, and the internet are all distractions that effect people today.  The ability to Google, whether it be on a computer or even on a phone, adds to the "instant gratification" attitude that has increasingly infected society since I have been alive.

Everything is about "now." The postal service was too slow, so we have email. Waiting until you have access to a computer to check your email was too slow, so now it is beamed directly to your phone as soon as it is sent, after all time is money.  CD's were too archaic, so now we can download songs directly to our laptops, or directly to our music devices if we're in the gym and we really need that song right then and there (if there's an internet connection of course).

Twitter caps how many things you can type, because anything more and people will most likely pay attention. Heck even this blog is suggested to be capped, or at least have a break put in it, because people can't stand to read the whole thing.

To tie this into real life, and how technology in general is negatively affecting everyone's brain, I'll share a story from just this past week. I was in the library at the middle school I work at, when a student said "what time is it I don't have my cell phone." I replied, in a snarky way, "there's this incredible invention called the 'clock' on the wall." Her reply gave me great sadness when she said "oh, I can only tell time on my cell phone, not with the hands on a clock." Good grief.

If the Google creators are looking to create an artificial intelligence, then it is this blogger's opinion that maybe we should start taking notes on The Matrix trilogy in order to find out how to survive in the future.

Here's a neat little video that illustrates the growing trend of relying on technology. Enjoy.