The Internet feeds the mind

I honestly don't remember how life was like without the Internet. I can faintly remember being in elementary school at 9 years old reading encyclopedia's as a way of obtaining information. In fact, does anyone remember this commercial for Encyclopedia Britannica? I can remember that nerdy commercial like it was yesterday. Every kid I knew who was smart had a set of those encyclopedia's at home and even bragged about it. Now fast forward 20 years later. Have things changed that much? From the stand point of accessing massive amounts of information quickly anytime, any place for free - the answer is yes. But in the end, a lot of the same information found in those old encyclopedia's is now on the web - we're just accessing and consuming it on our computers instead of books. Same words, just different platform...something Internet bashers don't understand.

The beauty of the Internet is that we get not one news source, but literally millions at our choosing from news media, to blogs, to even scholarly information! I'm of the school of thought that because of this we're actually getting smarter as a human race because information is so readily available. Some agree with this view, such as Damon Darlin of The New York Times. Being surrounded by information and constantly consuming it broadens our brain, helps us solve problems and think of new idea's. Despite all of its benefits, how can anyone argue that the Internet would make us dumber? Even more outrageous, how can anyone award a Nobel Peace prize to someone with this view - Dorris Leesing anyone?

So if anyone still feels like the Internet makes you dumb, well go right ahead and crack open the old Encyclopedia's. The rest of the world won't wait up.