The original topic for this post was how the Internet makes us more stupider. But then I realized it’s computers in general, not just the Internet.
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\nI can’t spell. That’s not a major problem these days, but it was an embarrassment when I was in school.<\/p>\n
Common spelling error stood out obnoxiously on the page. No matter what I wrote, it was less than what it could be, thanks to my inability to spell common words in English.<\/p>\n
Spelling isn’t anyone’s fault. Lamentably, there was no committee of bearded men in pointy hats who decided the proper and logical way to spell any word, let alone words in English. Spelling happened, kind of like the way orange juice gets spilled by a toddler in a high chair and with similar results.<\/p>\n
Back in 1986 or so, I bought a word processor with built-in spell checking. It was amazing. And while it didn’t check context, it alerted me to my favorite spelling errors.<\/p>\n
On-the-fly spell checking became very popular in the 1990s. Recently, on-the-fly spell checking became common with Firefox and other Internet programs. There’s even self-correcting of spelling errors, and that’s the problem.<\/p>\n
We’ve come to rely upon the computer to do the spelling for us. When human being rely on something else to do the work, the original organ becomes atrophied and useless. For example, people who walk everywhere are in better shape than people who use cars. In this case, people who have to remember correct spelling spell better than those who rely on computers.<\/p>\n
I also think the obsession with texting, as well as online chat rooms, has accelerated our intellectual demise.<\/p>\n
Beyond spelling, the computer hurts in other ways. A computer program that automatically saves your stuff makes you stupid and forget to save your stuff in another program that doesn’t automatically save.<\/p>\n
Some people rely on the computer to search for information and therefore they cannot use an index in a book, let alone a card catalog in a library.<\/p>\n
In fact, I would care to posture the scary proposition that without the Internet, some people wouldn’t know how to look up anything or find any tidbit of information. Consider:<\/p>\n
Can anyone under 25-years-old figure out how to work a dial pay phone?<\/p>\n
Can anyone under 25 work a TV without a remote control?<\/p>\n
Can anyone, any age, compose a letter and mail it? How about composing the letter in cursive writing?<\/p>\n
Can anyone go to a library and find information about, say, the Hubble Space Telescope?<\/p>\n
These may seem like trivial questions now, but in 10 years . . . who knows?<\/p>\n
As we rely on the computer more and more, the old way of doing things atrophies. Eventually it will rot and go away. Then heaven help us, because no one will remember how to help themselves.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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