Saturday, August 6, 2011

Life Before the Internet


I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what the world would have been like if we had the Internet in the 60′s.   We only had books,  newspapers, magazines and network TV.  I envy the youth of today.  You have so many more tools to change your world.
Today with all the information available at our fingertips many of us are still mislead by misinformation.  We still have unjust wars, children are still dying of hunger and malnutrition, bigotry and hate are still alive and well.  Most of the problems that many in my generation tried to end are still with us.
My biggest hope is that our youth will learn from our mistakes and use these new tools available today to change their world into a better place for themselves and their children.

5 comments:

  1. I think the greatest advantage today is the quantity and the various quality of the sources for information. Back in the 1960's we basically grew up believing everything they printed in the textbooks; hence, American Indians were "savages", "Negroes" lacked a good family upbringing, so they could never be "socially dependable", and America was fighting in Vietnam to "save our country from the ravages of evil Communism".

    A while back I had a talk with a woman my age who grew up in East Germany. We laughed when I said, "When I was child, I was told you were evil, because you were Communists. We had no idea what that was, but we knew you were evil."

    She said, "It was the same for us, except you were called Imperialists - whatever that means."

    And I said, "Too bad we didn't have Internet back then. We could have googled it."

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  2. Whilst the internet is good, it is also ruining critical thinking. I went to school, and finished school just before the internet explosion and I must say that I have a dim view of the analytical skills of the generations that came afterwards

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  3. I love the ability to find answers to any question. From childhood, I have a desire to learn everything I possibly can. In school, I had to rely upon encyclopedias that were probably out of date in my small country school. To have knowledge at my fingertips is like heaven to me. I hope the youth in this time can appreciate the knowledge they have at their fingertips too.

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  4. @ WBF: Agree with you 100%... No arguing that.
    @ John: One of the things about your blogs that I like [and am struggling to learn to do] is that they are short, and to the point. Word economy. I'm trying to get there myself, because my tl;dr's are really putting a damper on my attn whoring.
    Good entry man.

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  5. I don't blame the Internet for the lack of critical thinking skills. I blame the television.

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