Technology Made Us Dumb-Dumb!

Has our our idea of what common knowledge is, changed due to technology? I have written about technology before in a different manner check it out HERE. I have been a math tutor for years, and one common thing I see is that students do not know their basic multiplication, and the argument for not needing to know them is that they have calculators in their phones. Now back in my day our teachers use to argue that we needed to know how to do math without calculators because we would not be carrying them around with us in our pockets all the time. Has technology enabled us to become dumb?

I think it is extremely sad that a student cannot tell me something a basic as 3 times 3 without a calculator. Then when I take away the calculator the student can't even begin to tell me how they would go about figuring it out without punching numbers in a machine. It does not take much skill to put numbers into a calculator, but you do need brain power to arrive at the right answer without using a calculator. Now I am not saying that calculators are all bad, there is much good that comes from technology as a whole, but why are the basics being forgotten? Math students have become so dependent on their calculators they simply cannot function without them. Understanding how multiplication works is vital to understanding math.

Backpacking off of the Calculator idea, let’s take a look at auto-correct! We don’t need to know how to spell! Right now as I am typing this I don’t have to worry about having misspellings. The computer will tell me by underlining the word in red, and even then I don’t have to look up the word, I can just right-click and the correct word pops up, like magic. Because of auto-correct, I never learn from my mistakes, I do not have to do the extra work of opening up a dictionary (yes kids, the Dictionary is a tangible book!) to look up the correct spelling, and as for the definition? Well, I have Google for that. By looking up the correct word in the dictionary, our mind can better retain the information allowing us not to forget how to spell it correctly.  

GPS. I think the GPS is great, I will never get lost, but who knows how to look at a map now a days? Just punch where you want to go into this device and it will tell you word for word where to go, it will even tell you when you have made a mistake. There is a study that was done at McGill University about how the GPS effects the human brain. Using GPS will affect people’s memory, and spatial orientation. Don’t just take my word for it here is an article about it, that I found on Google (see what I did there? ; )). This study just proves the popular saying, “if you don’t use it, you lose it.”

Pablo Picasso once said “Computers are useless. They can only give you answers.” Picasso was right, the answer is unimportant if you do not understand how your arrived there. Whether it be math, or an actual location it's all about the journey, not the destination. We need to step back and realize when we rely on technology too much, and try to make a change so that we do not become too dependent.

~Save your MINDS! A terrible thing to waste… or mess up.