Is media and technology causing Americans to become more dumb? This is the very controversial question many have been asking. So, is it true?
Personally, I do not agree with this. We have used technology to make our lives a lot easier; however, it is not to blame. Americans still have to go to school and learn the same things that people have been taught for years. So how is the media and technology to blame? That is a question I would love someone to answer for me. How is it really to blame? I was taught the same fourth grade history facts as every other American student. We still learn the things we need to know to become educated, but now we have the luxury of typing a question into Google and having hundreds of links and articles to help us research what we want to find out instead of having to spend hours in a library reading books. We still learn the same facts, just faster. This might make us lazier, but how does it make us less smart than our older generations?
Many may argue that people know more about what the Kardashian’s are doing that what is going on in the political debates and the upcoming election. I know this to be true, but if we didn’t have the Kardashian’s people would be keeping up with the stats of their favorite baseball or football team or whatever else they find interesting. Everyone has their own interests and media helps that. It gives us more things to be interested in. We have E! News now, but we also have CNN. The media gives us so many options and new things to become infatuated with. So how does that make us dumb? Just because certain people don’t keep up with the news and what is going on in the world doesn’t make them dumb. They choose to watch E! or HGTV instead of Anderson Cooper or other news broadcasts. You can’t force them to know everything It is their free will to watch whatever they want to. That doesn’t make them less educated.
Jaywalking shows the people that don’t know as many facts as others and try and be funny. If Jay Leno came up to you on the street would you answer correctly or act funny and answer wrong for a chance of maybe getting on his show? I realize some of those people really might not know the answer, but I can’t help but think that some just want attention. How many of you could watch every Jaywalking episode or even Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader and get every question right? I know I am only nineteen years old but fifth grade was a long time ago! Some of those questions are really hard! So is media to blame for me forgetting? Did reading articles on the internet help me forget? I don’t think so.
