Post 19: Where do you stand on this issue? Do you think Google is making us “stupid”? How do these arguments play into literacy (or ideas of what literacy is as we move to thinking about technology?)

I do not necessarily think that Google is making us stupid.  I think that the internet and Google has transformed our society completely. Rarely is there a question that I have that goes unanswered.  I have a smart phone, and iPad, a laptop and a desktop.  I have access to the internet wherever I go.  Anytime I have a question, I must admit I Google it. Then, pop, I have an answer. 

Google is a wonderful tool.  It provides limitless information readily at the fingertips of the masses.  The detriment of Google and any other search engine is that in my opinion it impedes our ability or desire to remember anything.  My retention of information is sub-par. It seems that this is just a cycle though.  When people were beginning to write, there was uproar of how it would destroy our minds.

When print occurred and newspapers and books were readily available to the public, there was an outcry saying it would hurt our minds.

Now, here we are in the midst of internet everywhere. Information superstores are at our fingertips anytime of the day.  If we do not like what we see right away, we can simply click on another choice and it will be immediately in our faces.  That is where the scanning of articles and the necessity of headline writing comes into play.  We don’t have to read deeply into articles to understand the main points.  We can simply scan an article over, and if we do not get enough information, we can click a few times on our mouse and be trying out a new article. 

With every new development, literacy changes.  This is another shift in literacy.  The internet and Google has changed our access to written works.  We are certainly taking shortcuts.  Everything must be faster to survive.  The internet is a convenience that will only become more powerful and more integrated in our lives.