Is Google making us stupid? (Le Monde)

[Drew Wilson]

IT seemed important to offer reading Is Google Making Us Stupid?, Article by Nicolas Carr, published in June 2008 in The Atlantic, and whose translation, produced by Penguin, Olivier and Don Rico, was posted on the FramaBlog in December. In this article, Nicolas Carr (blog), author of the Big Switch and Does It Matter?, Known as Cassandra of new technologies, because it has often contributed to a critical discourse on their impact, part a personal observation on the impact that the internet on its ability to concentrate in order to invite us to think about the impact of technology on the way we think and perceive the world. Nothing less.

More... (Google Translated)

[fleecy]

makes a valid point- we've gotten pretty used to taking in small chunks of info.

[1cooldude]

I think one only needs to look to the level of "bastardasition" of the English language and realize that this is probably true.

[fleecy]

so true.... drives me nuts to read the papers and see how many misspellings and grammar errors there are.... and that nobody else seems to notice. there is a "dumbing-down" effect, but i don't know if it should all be laid on google.

[1cooldude]

me to..:smashfreakB:

[mountain_rage]

I think one only needs to look to the level of "bastardasition" of the English language and realize that this is probably true.

Contrary to the belief of many disconnected old farts, very few young people are walking wiggers who don't know how to spell. There is also research supporting that texting may be improving peoples writing abilities.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7910075.stm

As for the grammatical and spelling errors in printed media, I`ve been noticing that a lot lately too. Either my writing abilities are improving, or the cut backs to the industry have lowered the quality of editing.

[fleecy]

it's not a generational issue, it's a societal issue. my attention span isn't what it used to be, and i know some of that is due to the way i've been processing info for the last few years. makes it hellish hard to study, especially for an old fart like me ;)

[Drew Wilson]

Contrary to the belief of many disconnected old farts, very few young people are walking wiggers who don't know how to spell. There is also research supporting that texting may be improving peoples writing abilities.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7910075.stm

As for the grammatical and spelling errors in printed media, I`ve been noticing that a lot lately too. Either my writing abilities are improving, or the cut backs to the industry has lowered the quality of editing.

I've noticed tonnes of mispellings and grammar errors (let alone factual errors held within the odd story) I think what Google has done was given people a tool to do some fact checking themselves.

I'm quite sure, though, that the newspaper editors job ceased as a fact checker/spellchecker/grammar checker years ago. I'm not sure editors read half the stuff that gets put in print these days.

Besides, TV beat Google to the punch when it comes to shortening people's attention spans. ;)

[1cooldude]

This is one argument that does not really need any proof.One needs to spend some time on many blogs and forums and realize that many who use short form and abbreviations in their daily form of communication is most likely their only way in expressing a written text.

[Mels_Smileys45]

Google and the net in general has helped me out tremendously. I take in information better when I get it in small chunks. Its simply how my brain works. Maybe I have a simple mind but I learn things differently than others. For many years I NEVER used a spell checker because my spelling was really terrible and I needed a little work in that area. The internet helped me out big time. Not only would I look up words I could not spell but I also looked up words to which I did not know the meaning.

I also did not do much writing as a youth, other than to girls in school, so my writing skills were lacking. Posting at ZeePea alone helped me with sentence structure and much more. I do tend to write in a manner in which I speak most of the time but I do know the difference and can actually write proficiently if I need to do so. I have another problem with my writing that has never made any sense to anyone I have explained it to. For some reason I often type out something else other than what I intended. Its hard to explain but it seems like my mind must wander off for two seconds and I type that out without realizing it until a proof read my shit. Its weird because I can never catch myself doing it! It drives me crazy!

I was listing to talk radio the other morning and they were bitching about how text messaging was making kids stupid too. I think its just a generation gap. Perhaps some people are learning to communicate by writing again. I know that grammar is getting slaughtered through text (ing) lol! but I imagine when the phone was invented old folks were bitching that the phone was making people morons because they no longer wrote letters anymore. I sure wish I could have phoned in my reply to Doug Stephan that morning. I find he often thinks he is open minded but more often than not he misses out on good points because he talks over the people who phone in and does not allow them to fully voice their opinions.

Older people will always bitch about new technology and the younger generation. Its nothing new here...move along

[norm1515]

I think one only needs to look to the level of "bastardasition" of the English language and realize that this is probably true.

Language always gets bastardized. If language didn't change, we'd still be speaking the language used to write beowulf. Overtime, words get shortened, chopped up, combined, mispronounced, and misspelled. When these "errors" catch on with the general public, they become the new "proper" language. There is nothing inherently wrong with the way kids talk and spell today. I don't think they should be typing term papers in leet, for clarity's sake. But alternate spellings and new words are essential to the growth of a language, and text speak will grow to be more precise and expressive as people use it more often.

Some good reading. Descriptive linguistics teaches us to study language as how it is spoken, and not prescribe how it should be spoken. There is no "right way" to speak. What matters is that you get your point across to someone else, no matter what rules you break.

[Hath]

Language always gets bastardized. If language didn't change, we'd still be speaking the language used to write beowulf. Overtime, words get shortened, chopped up, combined, mispronounced, and misspelled. When these "errors" catch on with the general public, they become the new "proper" language. There is nothing inherently wrong with the way kids talk and spell today. I don't think they should be typing term papers in leet, for clarity's sake. But alternate spellings and new words are essential to the growth of a language, and text speak will grow to be more precise and expressive as people use it more often.

Some good reading. Descriptive linguistics teaches us to study language as how it is spoken, and not prescribe how it should be spoken. There is no "right way" to speak. What matters is that you get your point across to someone else, no matter what rules you break.

I came here to say exactly that.

[RACKnRAIL]

Google is making me pissed off with all the stupid popup ads every where. You can't even watch a youtube vid anymore without one nagging you. I am about ready to say fuck google!

[Signa]

I just say fuck Youtube. The pop-ups are becoming burdensome, and the loading speeds are abysmal. Top it all off with the copyright police camping on its borders to bitch-slap any video some one wants to load up with a song track in the background.