Is Technology Making Me Dumb?

May 18th, 2008 | By The Conscious Snob | Category: Sustainable Living

Rating 3.00 out of 5

Is Technology Making Me Dumb? Our company, a health care services provider, is going to roll out a computerized documentation program starting in June, eliminating all paperwork and scheduling. This new program will create our daily schedule, our tasks, and automatically remind us of when deadlines are due or if we made an error in our documentation or billing. Sure, it may save time after we figure out the system, but it also makes us think less.

It makes me wonder whether some of the digital tools are making our generation the most empty-headed? Most of the technology we are using in today’s culture include cool gadgetry, from snazzy cell phones to colorful laptops, that only immerse us into a digital world full of distraction. Instead of opening a novel, we read blogs, which are small bites of commentary and news. Instead of writing complete sentences, we use “ROFL” or “WTH.” We may be gaining speed in our typing skills, but are losing enriching opportunities to build our character, as well as our vocabulary.

We are focusing more on ourselves. Networking sites, YouTube, and blogs have made everyone feel as if their lives and words matter the most. We are intensely into ourselves, our friends, and what is happening now. The content is pretty anticlimactic on most sites. Do your friends care how you feel today? Do they really check your status symbol? Probably not, as they are more focused on how they feel and their own status. We may be interacting more using the internet than, say, watching television, but the value added from all this daily media saturation is probably not making us any smarter.

Something we can all do is to cut down on digital time. Check out the article regarding interacting with life. Going to the gym, watching a play, reading a book, cooking a new dish, dining out with friends at a new restaurant, and even taking a small vacation is a good start to less time in front of the screen. I am definitely a culprit to spending too much time online, and have started to shut down my laptop at a certain time so I can read, exercise, or just laugh with my boyfriend. It has definitely made me more aware of my time online, and while I have yet to find a good balance, I believe I am taking that conscious effort to making my life better, one less click at a time.

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