Does technology make people smarter?
Yes… No… Maybe?
Well, we are going to find out the answer to that question today.
So, Tanya was just walking across the street when she came across a beautiful flower that seemed to really fascinate her. Now, what did she do? She took out her phone, took a picture of the flower, searched it on Google and found all the information she wanted! From the name of that flower to the history of its origin and there you go, Tanya just learned something new. Now, what would have happened if Tanya didn’t have her phone i.e. technology? What could she have done then? Let’s see, she could go to the library and read about the flower in a plant encyclopedia. But just thinking about all those encyclopedias with information about those millions of flowers and having to search about that one flower makes Tanya think “You know what, let’s just forget about it, you can see beautiful flowers every day.” And Tanya just missed out on the opportunity to learn something new just because of the lack of technology.
Now, some people would call that laziness. That technology has made Tanya so lazy that she doesn’t want to go to the library and read. She doesn’t want to do hard work. But in reality, by using technology, Tanya is doing smart work and not hard work.
The freedom of researching anything in a matter of seconds, makes the facts a lot easier to check and access them. Computers, tablets, and smartphones, function as an auxiliary, serving as tools which are good at memorization, calculation, and also storing and presenting information when you need it.
Again, this might be seen as a bad effect on our memory power when what’s actually happening is that using technology like smartphone reminders does not make memory less efficient — rather, it frees the brain up to do other things.
Take the current situation during the Covid-19 pandemic. Children belonging to poor families are losing out on their studies because of the lack of access to technology whereas we here are able to still continue studying just because we have smartphones, tablets, and laptops. So, indirectly technology is boosting our knowledge right now.
So let me ask you again, Does technology make people smarter?
Oh Yes!
