Brainy Quotes

Has online activity slowed our brains or aided in our intellectual evolution? The internet penetrates several layers of present-day society, highlighting the advantages and disadvantages of technology, and the ways we've changed as a result. Initially I take a one-sided cynical perspective; a precursor perhaps to one day becoming the old-fart telling my grandchildren that I traveled up-hill both ways in 12-foot snow to get to school. I admit, I'm old fashioned, and what I asked myself when I reached the aforementioned question was; are we still intellectually evolving as a society? Does the introduction of technology make us intelligent, because we were smart enough to invent something to think on our behalf? Or perhaps does technology equate to becoming increasingly lazier, and are we simply taking credit for evolving when all we've really done is adapt 

Indeed when I'm researching a paper I'm the last person to complain about the speed and proficiency of online browsers. I wouldn't trade my handy online go-to pal for spending another half-decade in the stacks of a University library, desperately reading countless chapters in search of one decent quote. And indeed, I take in considerable "bits" of information as I scan online. Leaping from hyperlink to hyperlink and page to page, I'm left to wonder, am I actually getting smarter or simply becoming a walking game of Trivial Pursuit?

I'm in my second-round of post secondary study, so I'm provided a basis for comparison. I see the advantage to quick research, and the disadvantage of being incapable of the deep-reading I did in my early twenties. Back then I paid a pal to type my papers, but my ability to sit for hours and let the topic-at-hand swallow me whole was vast. Today my ability for deep concentration is so limited I find myself performing the "Stages of Prenatal Development" like a Shakespearian sonnet; robust and aloud using my dog as my audience. And my grades were much lower back then, compared to being a straight "A" student today. But I think my progress is a result of technology tapping into my short term memory instead of my boring old long-term storage facility. Indeed the short term memory is faster, a little more flashy and filled with immediate gratification, but I miss the days of encoding devices and the repetitive commitment of long-term inputting.

Superficially my numbers have appeared to improve, but truth be told I sometimes fear that a juicy thunderstorm will blow the data right out of my Frontal Lobe. I'm apt to settle on the concept of avoiding the burden of moralizing technology. I find myself landing more in the middle of the debate in the end; the very definition of "intelligent" is changing right along with everything else, and perhaps I'm simply suffering nostalgia.