Technology Is Making People Dumber Essay Example

Knowledge is treasurable, and everyone strives to gain knowledge in the current society. Today, everyone believes in the internet and whatever issue that one may find challenging, they would always rush to the internet to seek a solution. Notably, technologies are rising to help people make resolutions to various issues in society. For instance, the artificial intelligence assists people to think and come into conclusion on multiple matters. In relation to the allegory of the cave, where Plato talks about captives who have been inside the cave since these people depended on their personal knowledge to determine the objects that were shown to them on the shadows. However, the shadows on the wall were not the reality of what actually the objects were but what they thought them to be.

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Anciently, people had the zeal to read and explore various issues. For instance, if one wanted to know about a place, they would go to the maps analyze it and locate the areas on their own. This does not happen today because of technology. Whenever one needs to get into a place, they would use their Google maps, and in any case, the machine fails or get off the satellite, one will be long lost. Unlike before, the greater sense of thinking and estimation of the distance between two points in a map is never there. People have grown intellectually lazy, and the flexibility of our thought has been compromised by machine. Just like in the allegory of the cave, the thought of the prisoners was limited to the shadows that they see and would not imagine of the real thing (Andersen 14).

Similarly, "Why We Get Spun," shows how to distinguish facts from lies such as the warning sign of spins, tricks that are used to deceive people and how to ascertain the validity and significant information sources especially when it comes to the social media (Jackson & Jamieson 77). In this book, the author seeks to equip people with political knowledge that is essential in fighting for democracy. Recently, the internet is considered as the primary source of information and a means of communication. However, it is also the breeding hive for financial, political and personal scamming and the book tries to show how these tricks can be avoided.

The technology so far makes people forget the mastery of spelling and proper grammar unlike before when the smartphone and internet didn't exist. The autocorrect technology when one texts through their computers has made people believe that everything they type is correct, but then some of the corrections made by autocorrect technique makes no meaning and are out of context of the conversation (Jackson and Jamieson 67). However, individuals always conclude and console themselves that the receiver's brain is adept at making sense of the words provided that most letters are as they should be and mind not making any correction. As a result, people have been embarrassed by these sloppy messages and have been unable to identify grammatical errors and spelling mistakes while reading other articles.

Unlike the autocorrect technique where people have inclined their brains to computers, the Allegory of the Cave depicted how people inclined their trust in what someone suggested of an image. The game in the story shows how people believed that one prisoner believed that one is a master when they possess an empirical knowledge about the external world away from the cave (Andersen 84). However, the master that these people believe in has inadequate information, and whatever perspective that he brings and people think it is not the fact. Just like the autocorrect technology that the current society views as the grammar and spelling master, people always end of sending wrong information since they fail to proofread through their texts to ascertain the relevance of the data mainly in email messages that ought to be official and free from grammatical and spelling mistakes. It is, therefore, indubitable that technology is making people dumber in this generation unlike they were before.

It is stated that as the brain grows reliant on technology, the intellect and creativity get weaker and thinks slower. The technology in the world today has established a software known as artificial intelligence that thinks on behalf of people. This technique has diverse knowledge and would help in making decisions when faced with some challenges. Usually, engaging minds in times of problem-solving always assist us in making critical decisions and exercising the brain (Barr 18). However, when using the artificial intelligence, there is less exercise of the brain, and therefore the brain gets fatigue and would rarely think of any substantial idea. As a result, we often make stupid decisions in the absence of technology, and this shows how technology is making us dumber than before.

Hitherto, anything that is not contained on the internet will be considered to lack evidence and untrue. People have stopped the reading culture and exploration of the real-life situations in the society. Anciently, kids would entertain themselves by grasping various stories in the books and narrations from the elders. However, these days it is all about video games unlike before where children would play different mind jogging games like hiding and seek (Barr 98). As much as the video games assist kids in developing skills like coordination, cooperation and concentration among others, essential skills such as cognitive skills gained from reading are diminishing thus negatively affecting the academic performance.

People have to adore the reading culture and real-life games as it were before since this would grant them with the facts rather than the fantasies derived from video gaming technology. About the Allegory of the Cave, the escape showed how one of the prisoners had escaped to go and explore the real world. Away from the cave, the prisoner learned of the philosophical facts and knowledge and knew the sources of the shadows and that those items they used to guess were reality (Andersen 24). For that matter, he eliminated the mentality of viewing one who would guess what a shadow was as the master since what they held was not factually correct. In a bid to assist them, he sneaks back to the cave to help them escape, but then they deny. This is actually where the technology has placed people in the current generation.

Moreover, technology limits the comprehension of non-verbal cues of the preteen kids that would help them read people's emotions and react appropriately. Children who are always on electronic devices away from real life socialization with people have poor non-verbal reading skills thus cannot quickly detect people's emotions and appropriately respond to them. In the Why We Get Spun text, the author illustrates for us on how to get rid of scams and negative information and effects of the social media (Jackson and Jamieson 97). Therein, we can identify disinformation in social media and react appropriately to them to avoid deception, trickeries, and flimflams.

The three texts, Allegory of the Cave, the Image in the Age of Pseudo-Reality and Ufo Cult and Us: Why We Get Spun are connected to one other. In these three books, one this is evident, fallacy due to the conformity of other people's thinking. For instance, in the Allegory of the Cave, the prisoners held on what one would say about a shadow was the actual truth hence viewed them as masters (Andersen 14). Similarly, in the Ufo and the Cult: Why We Get, the leader of the Ufo claimed to have received information that flood would destroy the whole North America but together with her follows, they will be salvaged by Ufo. However, she later says that the flood had been called off and her followers believed, and that made her gather more supporters. Precisely, these books contain theories without facts and basis of approval which misleads members of the society.

Conclusion

In summary, technology today has limited the scope of thinking in the social and creative problem-solving skills that existed before are diminishing in a slow but sure rate. People have lost reading culture that brings cognitive knowledge thus are getting dumper. Therefore, as much as technology has raised the living standards in the current generation, it is not much distinct from the theories above that make people conform to fallacies that made them dumber.

Works cited

Andersen, N. (2014). Shadow Philosophy: Plato's Cave and Cinema. Routledge.

Barr, J. (2018). Video Gaming in Science Fiction: A Critical Study. McFarland.

Jackson, B., & Jamieson, K. H. (2007). unSpun: Finding facts in a world of disinformation. Random House.