Internet and Curiosity: Better now or worse?

[Lynx]

I remember back when I was young, and I had questions for which I could not easily get answers. Some things I wondered about, but we had no internet to answer all questions, and certainly no phones to bring the internet and search engines with me wherever I was. But these days I can answer all my questions just by pressing that mic button and asking my phone.

My question to y'all is, do you think this makes things in general better or worse than they were before internet?

PRO: I can satisfy my curiosity instantly about anything.

CON: I can't NOT satisfy my curiosity instantly about anything. If I am wondering about something, I cannot not ask my phone about it. It's like a reflex.

PRO: There is no excuse to not know things. These days very few people walk around saying stuff like "Glass is a slow-moving liquid."

CON: There sure are a lot of smart-alecs these days, people who think they know everything because they can access the world on their phones. The percentage of the population has lately increased that won't listen to anything anybody says.

PRO: I can prove what I know to be fact with a simple internet search, thus saving a lot of time debating a lot of things I would rather not spend the time to argue about.

CON: ANYBODY can prove ANYTHING these days. If you want to believe the earth is flat, the sun goes around the moon and Elvis is alive and well in a small town in Iowa, you can find people "proving" it all over the internet.

PRO: (Add a pro in the comments below.)

CON: (Add a con in the comments below.)

Whataya think? Does all this balance out to a net positive or negative?

 

[love_comes_softly]

CON: Instant answers only adds to this need of instant gratification. It makes for impatient people.

CON: If someone wanted to know something back then, they had to work for it, go to a library or ask others. People have lost a lot of social awareness in not having to socialize to figure things out.

PRO: You can learn about ANYTHING your heart desires. You don't have to wait for an expert to teach you something.

 

[Hamarr]

PRO: Can easily get news from tons of sources, especially if you use an aggregator.
CON: A lot of news sources don't even bother pretending to have objectivity anymore. And news can get throw out and shared quickly before being verified.

PRO: Can find out how to learn almost anything from a Google search. Don't know how to iron, tie a tie, etc? There's a you tube video for that.

 

[Lynx]

Yeah, I had to google a full windsor knot myself. Stupid ties. Where is it written that preachers must wear ties? But noooooo, it is assumed you are not really a preacher unless you wear a tie. Especially, I think, in the southeast USA.

 

[Hamarr]

That reminds me. I can't remember how we knew stuff pre-internet. Like when I was a kind in the early to mid 80s a lot of other kids were talking about Darth Vader and Obi Wan Kenobi fighting around lava. It must have been in one of the novels or a fan magazine or something. Nowadays, you can hear about some event and often find a video, a fansite, etc.

 

[ArtsieSteph]

I think there's pros and cons. It's amazing for information, but I can honestly say people's willingness to learn things long term has been...lessened.

 

[cinder]

It's also a con in that people become lazy about critical thinking type of stuff and learning to figure things out for themselves. Also we're so used to free information on the internet that we become less willing to pay for the well thought out and analyzed stuff which it takes time and money to produce, so I think the quality of information we get is less. One reason I don't want to get used to relying on my phone for all my info is because I want to keep my brain at its current level of functioning (as in I'd like to be smarter than my smart phone).

 

[Dino246]

CON: There sure are a lot of smart-alecs these days, people who think they know everything because they can access the world on their phones. The percentage of the population has lately increased that won't listen to anything anybody says.

… but who will happily accept information from Google, which effectively hides the credentials of those providing the information.

 

[Lanolin]

Um.
Wait what?

I'm a librarian. I rememeber pre-internet, we had card catalogues. Everything was slower.

I like that more people round the world are connected. I remember when going online was called SURFING the internet lol.

 

[Kojikun]

I believe it's far worse the news is infinitely worse. The fake news crack down is the most ironic thing I've seen in awhile also End Time predictions have increased exponentially within the past few years anything no matter how minor will always have one or two "This is the sign of the end times" Also everything is the Illuminati now too....doesn't help I have Scrupples and people are getting stupider people where happier in the 90s 😫

 

[Lynx]

Illuminati? I thought it was the knights Templar...

 

[Kojikun]

Illuminati? I thought it was the knights Templar...

Yeah look up the Illuminati claims on YouTube literally everything

 

[Lynx]

It's also a con in that people become lazy about critical thinking type of stuff and learning to figure things out for themselves. Also we're so used to free information on the internet that we become less willing to pay for the well thought out and analyzed stuff which it takes time and money to produce, so I think the quality of information we get is less. One reason I don't want to get used to relying on my phone for all my info is because I want to keep my brain at its current level of functioning (as in I'd like to be smarter than my smart phone).

Yeah, we get so used to looking up the answers instantly...

 

[Mii]

Yeah look up the Illuminati claims on YouTube literally everything

Yes but that is just scare tactics. Who is truly sovereign over all?

That's the problem even entertaining stuff like that in my own personal experience, it cast shadows where no shadows truly exist. They exist if you allow them to exist. That's one of the ways the enemy works in a believers life. Live and learn for me for me most of the time...Usually it's not the "hard" way though.



@ The Op...You can come across some pretty interesting articles if you were to search "Google makes you stupid" or "The internet makes you stupid" a lot of that I already agree with and I don't use a smart phone anymore for that reason. It "shallows" you in a way. I was just curious if what I thought and had been putting into practice was shared by anyone else lol.

Pro: Information is readily available

Con: Informational authority is relative to the source

Pro: Can move a discussion forward

Con: Engages human side while reducing our reliance on the Lord

Pro: Instant gratification

Con: Thirst is quenched too easily, laziness ensues



I could keep going and keep going and I appreciate the topic...I've let it run away with me at times to my detriment.

In the end I think that in order to think deeply about something, the internet is great to double check something, but it cannot be a primary source.

There are plenty of times I'm wanting to post something here and I need to double check a scripture and my first reaction is the easy route of searching it...takes usually 2 mins or less to find the reference on my own and I get to read more in the process, and it's like I'm drawn to keep reading instead of going back to my post. So it definitely changes "something" I just don't know what it is.
I always feel guilty when I look too many things up, or if I search a question I have about scripture...Who is my source?

Anyway appreciate it

*Edited*

 

[Lanolin]

Some children now ask Google everything instead of their parents. The parents will say I dont know, ask Google. Lol

I had this challenge in the library, one of my students had hidden a certain number of emojis in the library and the others had to find the number of them and enter the draw to win.

Well some children didnt want to find or search for them in the library, I found one of them went on Google and typed in the question 'how many emojis in the library? ' lol

 

[Lynx]

Look on the bright side. Nobody counted them and then quietly removed some so subsequent seekers would get the wrong count. That is what I may or may not have done...

 

[Lanolin]

Look on the bright side. Nobody counted them and then quietly removed some so subsequent seekers would get the wrong count. That is what I may or may not have done...

No I had heaps of entries so that wasnt true. Its just some thought google had the answer. Nope. Google doesnt answer everything. The girls knew the correct number and arent telling anyone.