Technology is Making Society Dumb

Technology is negatively affecting lives. Either through education, business, or home life, technology is there. It influences minds by the masses and is pushed on to many people to be the new norm. Many believe this is a good way to live life, but it is not. Technology has made people rely on technology, think less, and lose depth in life. Technology can become distracting and overtake lives. With so much going on in the world people tend to look for a way out, which the internet is any source for that.

People tend to feel that the internet is an easy source for that. People tend to feel that the internet may be completely reliable, especially with sites like Wikipedia,Youtube,or Facebook.

These sites are just the few of the many that can be edited or touched up to make their information to eh millions to be real.When people begin to rely on technology for information , or as a source, false information may spread.

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Things will get picked up that are not exactly true. For example, when people use Wikipedia as a source not realizing anonymous people can change information on that site. This creates false inaccurate ideas to become reality. Having millions read false information makes the intellectual part decrease in society. Having technology at the tips of so many fingers is exhausting for our society. Just because sources are easily reachable does not mean they are accurate, as Molly Layton mentions “ Should you really rely on the internet alone,to provide you with information that is trustworthy? In fact,no.

This it’s the time when you have to think with your own head and really find reliable and trustworthy information in this sea of information that is called the internet.” (Layton,n.d.)

Molly is right, people need to start thinking with the mind not just put all trust into foreign sites. It is mind blowing how quick trust is put into sites that share false information. With less thinking in the world people are less likely to contribute to society with creative thoughts. Technology rips away the self-creative side from each individual. The internet pushes out ideas that are than planted like seeds inside of people’s brains. When so many ideas are put on the internet, people start to mimic those ideas. Without being aware of what the internet is doing to society, it is easier for many people to become lost in this world and lack creativity. When creativity begins to lack many become followers. For example, when children watch Youtube videos that may be inappropriate, or show an action that is not acceptable in society, the children may find this action to be okay and reenact what was seen. This basically is showing how the internet can make society think less and not have self-thoughts. Individual thinking is highly crucial in society, and very much needed. Nicholas Carr mentions in his book The Shallows that “PSAT exams , which are given to high school juniors throughout the United States, did not increase at all during the years from 1999 to 2008, a time when Net use in Homes and schools was expanding dramatically.”

Carrs information is proving that the internet does not show any new increase in intellect. The internet is keeping humans in one spot and dumbing us down. (Carrs,2010) Having some sort of depth in life is highly important for an individual. It provides emotions, and better grasping of ideas. The internet is creating a lack of depth in lives through relationships, reading, and distraction. In relationships, it is essential for there to be communication, and sense of reality. Many individuals have become addicted to the internet, or specific apps. A specific app that has become very popular is Instagram. Instagram is an app that lets people upload photos of any kind that are than to be liked by other or commented on. People seem to love the idea as an app do to the fact it gives a person a sense of being notice or craving the idea of notifications. Creating this idea that likes and followers are highly important is damaging to the masses of people. People become so lost into the idea of social media world that reality becomes forgotten. This form of entertainment is dumbing humans drastically due to the fact people become so concerned with who has the most likes and whose the most popular. The fact that so many people are focused on that is concerning .

All these people have become so invested in this idea of what life should be and forget the reality of all the issues around. When a person is constantly on a technology device, relationships start to dwindle as well . Less communication starts to cause less sharing of ideas to one person to the next. When ideas are even put on line critics start to attack and react negatively. Relationships in real life become not existent and phones start to take the place of loved ones. This causes a lack of depth in life with depression and other mental disorders to appear within individuals. In the book The Shallows by Nicholas Carr , he says “Clive Thompson, the Wired writer, refers to the Net as an “outboard brain” that is taking over the role previously played by inner memory.” (Carr,2010)

This idea is basically saying that technology is taking the job of the brain. From memory to daydreaming, technology thinks for the brain when a person uses it . Instead of the person memorizing information or absorbing it, people will depend on technology to think for the brain .When a person does not take the time to memorize information the person will not grow as an individual. With no development as individuals humans will stay static and intellect will gradually decrease. Bill Buppert in the article, Reading is Fundemantal to Freedom, he quotes Nicholass Carr who says” What the Net seems to be doing chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation. Whether I’m online or not , my mind now expects to take in information the way the Net distributes it: in a swiftly moving stream of particles. Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words. Now I zip anong the surface like a guy on a jet ski.” (Campbell, 2016).

This quote shows that the internet is affecting the reading process as well. Whey the way a person reads starts to become the way the internet distributes information that is going to affect the absorption of the material a human mind is trying to gather. Causing less attention to what type of source is being used or what information is even true. Lack of concentration and contemplations are not good for a human being in general. Concentration is critical when gathering information for the long haul or for remembrance, especially dealing with situations I real life. Having a lack of contemplation is not the best either. It causes less thinking to be used and almost a source of laziness. Buppert says “I am convinced that the compulsion with screens of every type is actively disengaging humans from each other and vigorously diminishing people’s ability to emply critical thinking skills” Humans interacting with one another is slowly depleting and humans are the ones who can stop it from occurring. The social interacting society once had is getting pulled away, and the fact Buppert is using the word “compulsion” should be a wake up call. Society seems to be locked behind screens to communicate, which is not what humans should be doing.

The fact that humans aren’t realizing the connections between one another are depleting, makes humans dumber. Campbell uses Buppert’s writing who then quotes William Power from his book Hamlett’s Blackberry who says” And we’re losing something of great value, a way of thinking and moving through time that can be summed up in a single word: depth. Depth of thought and feeling, depth in our relationships, our work and everything we do. Since depth is what makes life fulfilling and meaningful, it’s astounding that we’re allowing this to happen.” (Cambell, 2016).The quote Buppert brings attention to is an outstanding point. Without Depth, humans can’t feel what is right or wrong. The fact that people have let it get to the point where having depth in life is close to non-existent is scary and it shows what the internet, and technology sources do to our minds. Emotions and feelings get dumbed down, turning off any interactive thinking processes. The internet is not completely negative to society; it does have its perks. An article from Bentley University says “Advanced technologies are having a greater impact on your mind than you may believe, however. Modern tools are also making you more creative.” Creativity is a gain from technology, but overall it boils down to how technology is being used. Bentley University says on their site “'We are all capable of being creative,' Garfield said.' With the use of the correct tools our innate skills can be enhanced and harnessed.' (How Technology Is Boosting Your Creativity, N.D).

The correct tools being mentioned are still tools that people are relying on that keep people running back to the same ideas. Being careful with the tools that are available is what the smartest move is. In all, society is holding on to technology, but how many more years until the negative affects become noticed by the masses. In the article, Smarter Technology Making Us Smarter, Dan Carrison states that “Today, thanks to the internet,”the gates are down”. The democratization of information has made more people smarter because more people today can find whatever information they need: knowledge is no longer proprietary”. (Carrison,n.d)

This claim made by Dan Carrison is true, society gets to have and share knowledge that was created by someone else. It does make a more well-rounded balance in the world of knowledge. This may all be true, but it truly is how society goes about using this knowledge that is given. Society keeps relying on the internet for every answer , without absorbing the information given. Technology may become negative, and it mostly has. The way society overuses technology and let it changes every aspect of a humane life. If society becomes more aware of the problems technology is causing a lot of issues can be solved. Just by looking at all the issues that technology can create now ,and for the future it is highly crucial to have this awareness. This is by choice of society and how each individual chooses to live life with the internet around. Being aware can prevent the negative parts of technology which include relying on technology, less thinking, and losing depth.