The Internet & Intelligence

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Is internet is making us “dumber”?

The existence of the internet has brought a new era to human knowledge. The internet (or specifically Google) can answer questions in just a moment. So do not be surprised if the human mind has now expanded than before. Although in this internet age information is available in abundance, but it does not necessarily make us smarter, even worse, it might make us dumber.

A common sight in the internet age: people are avid social media, sending and receiving chat, mention Instagram, Twitter and commenting on Facebook at length. These activities are sometimes carried out simultaneously, while working on school assignments — and also while listening to music. The human brain is different from a computer processor. The human brain is serial, not parallel, while the existence of the internet (and all its supporting equipment) forces us to think and act in parallel, aka multitasking. Multitasking is one activity that can reduce the ability of the brain, both in the short term and long term. All this extra work for our brain, should make us smarter, like adagium; the knife will get sharper when used frequently, and vice versa, it will become blunter when rarely used. So even with the brain, it will be more active and developing with a variety of stimulating challenges, on the contrary, will be increasingly blunt and less productive with less or no stimulation at all to be digested. Apart from of course, there is improvement in nutrition, medical science is developing and able to reduce brain damage, as well as improved sanitation and public health.

Researchers from Stanford University have examined in depth about this, and found that people who often do multitasking turned out to have worse performance for activities that involve mind concentration, their thoughts are easier to divert, from those who don't. The existence of the internet makes people increasingly lazy to think. When someone faces difficulties, they tend to directly use the internet to googling and find solutions to the problem. Trends that occur, information will be received without analyzing or thinking about it first and this is the beginning of the decline of the brain.

Similarly, according to Aboujaoude, Stanford University's doctor of clinical psychiatry, using the internet we believe that we are more educated, more mature or smarter than we really are (Aboujaoude, 85-90). With the availability of very wide access, internet users feel their level of knowledge is on par with the internet writer - even though it's not. This over-assumption of self-ability can hinder progress that will be achieved when we know the real conditions.

The mind has the advantage of having critical abilities; it can sort the information. Internet requires the brain to adapt. The data changes and needs regular updates: a permanent doubt for the brain. The web therefore entails developing one's own point of view and being critical of the publications of Internet users. The internet allows us to access abundant information without limits, giving us the opportunity to learn and search for anything. But without proper use and sorting, all of that becomes futile and can lead us to the shallowness of thinking. A researcher reveals that the internet has the potential to make people even more stupid. This is inseparable from the increasingly dependent people on technology.

Memory is changing. Our research shows that when we use the internet to support and expand memory, we become more dependent on it. Meanwhile before we might have tried to remember something ourselves, now we don't want to bother. It's also not a dream anymore if you want to watch lecture classes at a university at MIT level. All thanks to the Internet. We know everything. But also thanks to the Internet, the booming information that comes to us makes us less inclined to focus. It is no longer a rumor that the Internet causes our productivity to decline.

Reading with the cooperation that used to occur naturally, now must be worked hard. The internet erodes our ability to concentrate and reflect. Reading require a gradual effort to adapt to the brain. The transition from a sheet to a screen seems normal but it is not. The signs are much more numerous and the forms, the colors arise everywhere and attract attention. Result: the eye panics! In addition, studies show that "surfers" do not read line phrases online in the traditional sense. New ways of reading appear: the diagonal reading, which consists of browsing a text quickly, while managing to draw the essential elements (theme, thesis, antithesis, arguments, conclusion.) thanks to titles, keywords and summaries to arrive at quick results. It is therefore important to find a good paperback book to soothe the neurons a little. The more often you use the web (or to read digital text), the more difficult it is to stay focused on long sheets of writing

On the other hand, people with IT backgrounds, majority disagree that Google is making us fool and another majority of people believe that our ability to write, read and process knowledge improves. Indeed, the Internet will force us to skim more often. This is also due to the amount of information available on the Internet. We can't read everything one by one. Hence, it is decisively the presence of the Internet that influences us to have new capacities (handling a ton of data), despite the fact that it is obvious that it may influence us to lose the old capability (center around perusing data). In addition, it is additionally trusted that, internet does not wipe out our capacity to recall things. Or maybe, changing our abilities becomes how we remember. If we pay close attention to Internet information, this is actually a big leap for science. We don't have to inquire about something that has been explored by another person. We can utilize the data that is sufficient with our mouse in our grasp. This is thanks to the spirit of sharing in the world of the Internet. They didn't hesitate to publicize their insight, developments or research results to general society. With the presence of such broad information, it will normally make individuals more intelligent.

Concluding with the point that people who use the Internet, will in general be excessively reliant on it so the internet makes us more stupid than smart. Although as indicated by specialists, this ability is the consequence of adjustment of the mind because of the transition of the source of knowledge from books to the Internet, we still have the ability to remember the vital information in our brain and also keep sharpening the power of analysis. As a product of human creativity, technological sophistication leaves a dilemma. Like two sides of a coin for its users. The question is whether technology in this case the internet search engines challenge our brains to continue to dig up information and develop any information obtained to give birth to new creativity, or precisely vice versa, making our brains increasingly lazy and ignorant to think. It is impossible to say that the Internet makes idiots even if it is true that it makes you lazier! It is a useful tool, but it must be used with moderation. At the end of this paper, describing just a few simple illustrations; first, when there were no cellphones with a variety of variants there was only a landline, it was very easy for us to remember someone's telephone number. Now with mobile phones more easily, how many of us are able and willing to remember other people's phone numbers, family members? In fact, often, we don't remember our own telephone numbers. So, honest answers are in each of us, whether the sophistication of technology, especially the internet, and more specifically smart machines, makes us more stupid or smart?

Works Cited

Aboujaoude, Elias. "Problematic Internet use: an overview." World Psychiatry 9.2 (2010): 85-90.

Sahtouris, Elisabet. "Living systems, the internet and the human future." Planetwork, Global Ecology, and Information Technology Conference, San Francisco. 2000.

Taylor, David. "Is the internet making your students dumb?." International Perspectives on Teaching English in a Globalised World (2013): 245.