Is the internet making us smarter or dumber?Are the millenials becoming smarter with the smart phone or are they going south ?
The answer won't be a binary.Yes ,in may aspects.The brain is not wired to handle multiple thoughts at the same time which is exactly what a smart phone makes you do.When you log into facebook or twitter and start reading an article,a whatsapp message pops out and your brain forces you to halt the article and switch to the whatsapp.Suddenly,yet another advertisement pops up which further steals your attention and diverts you from the article.This constant bombardment of information is not necessarily good.The question is how much of this information really gets filtered down as knowledge or gets applied in your life.
Of course the internet brings with it tons of positives which the previous generation did not have access to.You could check the weather,book flight tickets,look at the reviews of the latest gadget or restaurant down the block,do a background check on someone,transfer money to family,start your video channel all from the comfort of wherever you are.
However the biggest curse of the internet seems to be the drastic drop in memory and concentration levels with the previous generation.If you talk to folks from the previous generation,we would realize that they might not be a jack of all trades but you could bet on them to deliver quality in their area of specialization.On the contrary the current generation seems to take the path of being jack of all trades and master of none.
Constantly being on the internet tends to make people easily irritable and impatient.It does take patience to lock oneself in a library without any external distraction and finish a book.
It would be interesting on how the brains of this and the future generations would evolve in the coming years with the advent of social media.
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