Posting a comment again to say that this exact topic came up in my class today! The same class where I'm studying the learning theories on Connectivism that I linked to earlier in the conversation. I do think my class would enjoy this particular podcast, so I'll happily pass the link along! :)
i guess it is really anoying when people are very bais about there piont and dont even let you get a say in edgeways. even though what they are saying may make sence, it just makes you want to go against that view. i have been in that situation one too many times for my likeing, but then again, it is good to be opiniated at times
instant gratification "is it a bad thing?" YES Myles it is!
I'm not anti the internet - it has helped me a lot too - but instant gratification is not good. All of us need to learn to persevere in life... we all need to learn to work hard to earn money to put on our plates and pay the rent. If people live life with a "microwave mentality" expecting everything to come to them instantly and never learning to take time over things they may miss out on learning the skills we all need to work through problems. We all need patience, perseverance and hard work in our lives and we mustn't be shy to learn things the hard (and sometimes slow) way too.
Now I've thought about it a little bit more, I want to comment again; the internet helped me read faster, the internet taught me how to multitask, the internet taught me how to work more efficiently, the internet helped me develope my English better, helped me learn Spanish a little bit, I often get to communicate with my sister who lives in England now, it taught me how to search for something that used to be impossible to find, so on and so forth.. so my conclusion is, yes, the internet IS destroying us; before you know it we all become smarter and better humans
Over the summer my mom read a book called The Shallows which is about how the internet is changing our brains. I read some of it as well and I do see the effects that the internet has on my brain. I feel the need to do so many things at once. When I have youtube up I also feel the need to open my gmail, then my facebook, then maybe twitter and then flip back and forth over and over again. When I was younger I feel like I was able to focus on one thing much longer. While I don't think that the internet is killing our brains, I do think that some of the effects are not that great. I feel like I have to work harder to read straight through something, while a few years ago I did it with out even giving it that much thought. Yes, the internet has brought great things to us, but I would really like my ability to focus back. I do, however, disagree with the idea that it is "hampering empathy." I agree with you in that we are probably more empathetic because of the connections we can make through the internet.
Also, you may get a kick out of this book. Or, you know, thrown into a fit of rage, rather: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cult_of_the_Amateur
I'm not anti the internet - it has helped me a lot too - but instant gratification is not good. All of us need to learn to persevere in life... we all need to learn to work hard to earn money to put on our plates and pay the rent. If people live life with a "microwave mentality" expecting everything to come to them instantly and never learning to take time over things they may miss out on learning the skills we all need to work through problems. We all need patience, perseverance and hard work in our lives and we mustn't be shy to learn things the hard (and sometimes slow) way too.
I read the title of the article and ignored it with the idea "they're nuts", but couldn't - of course - ignore this podcast
By the way, there was also this article saying that people with lots of friends live 3.7 years longer.. so that would make chatsites etc. healthy, right?xD http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1311676/Study-finds-people-lots-friends-live-3-7-years-isolated.html