Is the Internet Making You Stupid?

I read an interesting article the other day that asked the question of whether or not the internet is making us stupid. At first I thought, no and that the internet would have to be making us smarter. I mean look at all of the information we can find out now! But then I thought about it a little longer, and realized how much the internet has affected me.

I never will forget the day that we got the internet at our house. I was in the sixth grade (11 years ago). Of course, back then, everyone had dial up. You could take a shower, clean the house, go to the grocery store, and wash your car all in the amount of time it took to connect to the internet. Nevertheless, the internet had me from "You've Got Mail!". I was instantly addicted. It was better than television! I could connect to so many things that I otherwise would not have had access to(and I'm not talking about porn). I think that it's safe to say that I became an internet addict from the very first day I ever signed on.

Before the internet days, I was a wonderful speller, and I read a lot of books. I had a pretty descent attention span, and didn't get distracted too easily. Over the years, it seems that my intellect has somewhat disintegrated. Now, I'm not saying that I'm stupid...I'm just saying that if it weren't for spell check on my computer, I would definitely come across as stupid. When I am on the internet, I lack the ability to think for myself. Why? Because there is a Google search bar in the top right hand corner of my screen that I can type anything, anything at all into...and come up with an answer.

Now, do I think that the internet is making me, and the rest of the world stupid?

I tend to think that the internet isn't making people stupid, it's just making people lazy. If I were to separate myself from a computer, and the internet for a week...I would probably regain the capabilities (or die from withdrawals) that I used to have before the internet came along. My attention span would probably expand back to where it used to be. I would probably be able to spell again, and the ability to think things out would return as well. I think that with the internet giving us the ability to have the entire world at our finger tips, we have lost the need to go to the library and read Encyclopedias, or look words up in the dictionary. Most of our writing is done on computers now, and most computers have spell check; why do we need to know how to spell anymore? We can find out the answers to anything, connect to anyone, and find out what has happened or is happening all over the world, with just one click of the mouse.

I do, however, wonder how this will affect our children? They won't know what the world was like before internet, and they'll probably enter school with a course in computers in Kindergarten. Everything that they will be taught to do, will most likely be done on the internet. Will our children be able to think for themselves, or will they be lazy like the rest of us are getting?

It's an interesting thought, and something that maybe we should take action against. I don't want Bree growing up never having stepped foot into a library. I don't want Bree to have to rely on the little red squiggly line on the computer to help her spell. I want her to be able to think for herself. I want her to know how to use an Encyclopedia, and a Dictionary...and I'm not talking about the ones that can be found on the computer or internet. I think that it is important to instill these capabilities into our kids, because if we don't...no one else will.