“Google and the End of Wisdom” Published at PopMatters
Popular culture Web site PopMatters is publishing “Pixelated Brains,” a four-part series of articles addressing the consequences of technology and new media on thinking.
My article in Pixelated Brains runs today: “Google and the End of Wisdom.”
From the overview:
“Bob Batchelor is convinced that thanks to easy access to online resources, today’s colleges are producing a generation of lazy thinkers. This is more than just an old fashioned, curmudgeonly professor demanding that people crack open a book once in a while - and actually read and comprehend it - it’s a concern that there may be a real cultural decline in critical thinking skills that is enforced, even rewarded, by modern educational institutions.”
July 10th, 2009 at 11:25
Prof. Batchelor,
Your article presents an interesting examination of the role Google plays in our everyday lives; especially, for those currently in the classroom. Google seems to be taking the place of our brains in the form of a calculator, only this time the difference is that the teacher can’t take it away from its students.
I will admit that at times I catch myself thinking about googling anything from how high a budget should to be to generate success in a company’s social media division (1,740,000 hits), to even basic things such as where I should travel next year (522,000,000 hits) or what messages should be written in a sympathy card for a co-worker (150,000 hits).
This is, as you put it, “outsourcing my thinking,” and is a common thread of those of us who are members of the millennial generation. We have convinced ourselves that Google is some kind of Magic 8-ball that predicts future outcomes and can provide us with a degree of certainty like no other.
I catch myself in these predicaments quite often, and have to deter myself away from the dependency/instant gratification mode that Google has instilled in so many of us today.
July 10th, 2009 at 13:19
Hi Kayla, thanks for the kind words and fantastic insight. I wish I would have thought of the “Magic 8-ball” analogy myself. I would have used it in the article.
I appreciate you describing the way you use Google. The main reason I started this blog was to hear from professionals to find out if the ideas I’m putting forth in the classroom are on the mark or off target. I know that you are a deep thinker, which proves the Google seduction is a strong one.
Thanks for stopping by.
Sincerely,
Bob
February 4th, 2010 at 02:26
Great info on {the topic of the blog}. It will guide many of the readers.
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