Comments on: As Smart Phones Get Smarter, Humans get Stupider

By: Alex Griffin

Alex Griffin — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 15:51:20 +0000

My spelling has definitely (that one particularly gets me) has gotten worse the last few years, which is odd considering hos much more I am actually reading because of blogs, advice pieces, reviews and tutorials. I was always told when I was younger, that reading made your vocab better and improved your spelling , through exposure to the words and their meanings.

I dont think is true however as practice and DIY is something that is key in learning, well it is for me anyway. Using thesaurus’s is something I thought that would help increase my diction, but I think its going the other way, simply being over laid with marketing terms and acronyms. Auto correct and spell check is a life saver, but maybe a brain killer.

Good piece Duane.

By: Ismail

Ismail — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 05:56:00 +0000

In reply to Bob.

“The clever get cleverer, the stupid get stupider…”.
Is this Intelligibility Line?

By: Bob

Bob — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 08:08:00 +0000

I think google, and having just about any info you want at your finger tips is making people more clever. That one doesn’t worry me.

I’ve also wondered through, that with software (on any device) getting easier and easier to use, that people are possibly becoming less intelligent. But then, you still need a few people to develop that easy to use software (which can be very difficult!). So, maybe the divide between intelligent and stupid people is just getting bigger. The clever get cleverer, the stupid get stupider…

By: Duane Jackson

Duane Jackson — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 10:04:00 +0000

In reply to Tim McOwan. "supposed to be"? : )

By: Tim McOwan

Tim McOwan — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 07:37:00 +0000

Is the subject line supposed to be ironic?

By: Andrew Fairley

Andrew Fairley — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 14:19:00 +0000

There is evidence that our memories are changing with the ubiquity of computers and google-enabled devices. If you ask people to remember a list of facts and figures without the help of a computer, they will do pretty well. If you ask them to remember a list of facts and figures by storing them in various folders on a computer, they will not be able to remember them very well, but they will remember where they stored the info and how to access it. The internet is fast becoming a proxy for recall. Memory, spelling and fingers are on the way out – whatever next?!

By: Daniel Tenner

Daniel Tenner — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 14:18:00 +0000

To be fair, kids are already largely incapable of correct spelling (and to be even more fair, that’s not really such a recent problem… it’s one of those things that humanity hasn’t figured out how to resolve yet). Right now, dey spik laik dis on dee sms. Text-speak combined with inability to spell is just … painful.

If Siri makes those same kids learn to speak in a clear, computer-intelligible accent, and means that when I receive those texts they are in properly spelled English, then I’m all for Siri 🙂