Is The Internet Making Us Dumb?

Revolutions happen. Sometimes they are fast, other times they are slow. But, no matter what, revolutions shift our culture, or world so quickly that those who didn't see it coming oftentimes cannot wrap their heads around what happened, or why what they have lived with for all of their lives is no longer the norm.

This is precisely what happen to Doris Lessing, 2007 Nobel Prize for Literature winner. The Internet Revolution changed the world that she knew, I don't blame her for saying that the Internet is full of "inanities". If you read her speech, which advocates for the joys and importance of reading, you can see why she may think that the Internet is a place for useless banter, socializing, and not learning outside of the realm of computers.

But, the culture has changed, and the way we get information has become much easier and faster than ever before. We can Google, and get latest current events, academic articles and information, and take this all for granted.

But, I see where Lessing is worried. With her love of books and all that they have taught her, the thought of books and all of the information that they store becoming obsolete is frightening. And there is certainly published information that hasn't made it's way to the Internet. But, there are many people who are making sure that this information isn't going out of the window. Sites such as Wikipedia are example of this. Millions of people are constantly adding information to the site so that it keeps becoming larger and full of as many facts as possible.

So, with all revolutions, there will always be people who get lost and don't understand what is going on, it's a fact of life.