the human condition

We live in a time when information can get shared instantly, unless you have an iphone then maybe not, but in general, things move around quickly. The growth of the internet and other infrastructure has allowed us to video chat on our mobile devices and stream unlimited porn. But it also made people lazy and apathetic about learning and storing any information (looking for red and green lines instead of learning how to spell or use proper grammar). Its because something more reliable can store it for you, such as a computer or the internet. I don't really have an issue with that, I google shit all the time. I just feel like its making us stupider. We are depending less and less on our own capacity and relying too much on an internet connection.

I remember a time when I actually had to look into a dictionary to find out what a word meant and also turn down taveling encyclopedia salesman. Now there's "define ______"  with google and everyone's favorite, wikipedia. That is what a majority of us use if we need to know the definition of something and if we are curious about a subject, its convenient. But is it alright to depend on such a limited variety of sources? We humans do something called the error of availability. What that means is that we tend to take the most readily and easily obtainable info and base decisions off of it. Think about it... when was the last time a friend told you a movie they just saw was bad, then you get to the theaters and your decision was altered because of what your friend said? What is more prevalent in the US, murders or suicides? Most people would answer murders, when in fact, suicide rates are higher. Its mainly because murders are highly publicized and reported. Suicides are not.

But is advancing technology always a bad thing? Or can it be more like a tool that extends our own abilities? I would like to think it would be used for more good things than bad. However, when I hear an abundance of stories about people who log off facebook only to log back in 30 seconds later, or about people who can't survive without their twitter fix, or about people who are constantly seeking a wifi connection, or those who can't look away from their smartphones... I lack hope.