Tuesday, May 27, 2014

More information we have, the less we learn

Good Morning and it sure feels like we've skipped to summer!

We were watching TV late last week (yeah, one of those stupid pawn reality shows) and a guy was trying to sell a pair of Dr. J's sneakers.
While the bickering went on between the TV guys, the teenager asked, "Who is Dr. J?"
Over the weekend, we took a trip to Washington D.C. and walked through the American History Museum. One of the exhibits contained Archie Bunker's chair. The 12-year old asked, "Who is Archie Bunker?"
My answer to both those questions was "Look it up and learn."
Technology has given us the ability to learn all about everything. Want to know what the Vikings ate while sailing to Greenland? Google it.
Want to find out the top song on May 27, 1972? Go online.
Who is Dr. J? Well, that question should never get asked.
The problem, though, is with so much information, I fear we are losing something.
When I wanted to learn about Jackie Robinson, I read books and watched the movies. Now, there's not investment. A quick search calls up a Wikipedia page and a scan of the text pulls in the information.
How much of it sticks, though? I mean, really, we've all be sucked into the hole where we start reading about something, click on something else, then something else and forget the original search.
All the info obviously is not bad, we just have to use it the correct way.


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