Computers Make Kids Dumb

[Bertinan]

What...? Your calling America an oligarchy? But you see, public education is important. While it isnt necessarily better in terms of teaching than the internet, it is important in the fact that it allows students time to be in a social environment, and learn about how the world is. Could you really imagine a computer geek who only steps out of his house to buy groceries being able to give a good public speech? I certainly cant.

[Georgyw5k]

Could you really imagine a computer geek who only steps out of his house to buy groceries being able to give a good public speech? I certainly cant.

Well, you may not be able to imagine such people, but they exist.
I'm one of them. I rarely venture out of the house other than to retrieve items from the store, or to visit a friend's once in a blue moon.

But recently i've been taking part in many public speech competitions, and came out successfully, i might add.

It's not a case of being in the right social situations, i truly believe that it's a case of the population dumbing down.

The gene pool seems to have degenerated into a gene puddle. That's a universal problem. People are just getting dumber because they're not thinking for themselves.

They're letting the media and celebrities think for them. Let's face it, America's population are so stupid that they can't even make the decision to kick the trained Chimpanzee out of the white house.

That's because they're always listening to the media and they're 'unique' portrayal of situations. 'game related' shootings being a perfectly reasonable example. The media portrays some kid as being a vile, heinous monster who after a round of Hitman 2 or whatever the hell it was, went out on a killing spree. The kid probably wasn't even influenced by the game, but of course, that's the direction that todays society takes.

It's not the fault of the computer, it's the fault of the parents and most importantly, the intelligence of the kid in front of the monitor.

That being said, a good evening to you all.

[Kazuya]

I saw this on a bumper sticker today:
"It is better to build children then repair men."
The children are our future. As we progress through the years, technology is making everything easier and easier. One suggestion stated that we should do teaching through the computer, it is not a far fetched idea. I think it is a highly possible solution.

And to the person who stated that there are people who have no access to computers and barely food, I say to you, that situation is a sad story and there are so many people, we don't have the suffcient resources to supply them with everything that our new world has to offer. I'm sorry to say this but, we're mostly concentrating on the people we can reach at the moment.

[Xaenn]

I saw this on a bumper sticker today:
"It is better to build children then repair men."
The children are our future.

I agree with statement. However, looking at today's children I fear the future.

As we progress through the years, technology is making everything easier and easier. One suggestion stated that we should do teaching through the computer, it is not a far fetched idea. I think it is a highly possible solution.

I just ask what does teaching through the computer solve? Less interaction between these people? Because how it actually creates more intelligent children one has yet to say.

And to the person who stated that there are people who have no access to computers and barely food, I say to you, that situation is a sad story and there are so many people, we don't have the suffcient resources to supply them with everything that our new world has to offer. I'm sorry to say this but, we're mostly concentrating on the people we can reach at the moment.

So if you don't have a computer you can't get a public education? Isn't that just a wee bit demented?

If teaching were to go on through computers than certainly there would have to be public areas where anyone could use the computers, thus making the education public again.

But please, someone tell me the benefit of this.

[Creature]

You're ignoring the fact that more than 80% of the world, that deserves education as much as the rest of the world's population doesn't have access to basic amenities and three meals, let alone a puter and the internet. The internet caters to a specific class of people, and it would be terribly wrong to say that only said people deserve to access the right to education.

please read full threads (or at least what the person you're replying to wrote in it) or it just looks like quote plucking for no particular reason

i was talking about USA, not to mention in the context of a plan, not in the present.

[Bertinan]

Guys...I think we've gotten a bit of subject. This thread was about the article saying computers make kids dumb, not about how to improve the education system.

And saying that we should basically focus on the people we can reach strikes me as a bit stupid. In today's world, EVERYONE can be reached, and with ease if one has the mind to. It is important to make sure everyone gets the same education, or else you get situations like Iraq. Most of the people killing themselves are only doing it cause someone told them it was the right thing to do, based on their religion. Face it, the "civilized" world can no longer go about as if it owns the world, and this is particularly focused on America. We have to reach out to those in places like the Middle East, and Africa, and show that we really are interested in helping them live better lives. And I just went WAY off topic

[Xaenn]

We have to reach out to those in places like the Middle East, and Africa, and show that we really are interested in helping them live better lives. And I just went WAY off topic

That would be great...but the USA isn't...and I'm sure most other countries aren't either.

[20by20]

Now i'm going to bring this thread back on topic. Computers don't make kids dumb. In fact, they can make kids smarter. For example, a few users stated that their grammer increased thanks to computers. Computers have also become parts of school. In my school, we have a computer lab where we go and do stuff like look up facts, type up stuff, and get ourselves prepared for things like reports and projects. Besides, using a PC for getting facts is way faster than having to look through tons of books, which can take hours upon hours if you need lots of facts. Without computers, kids would be dumber than they are now. I'd also like to mention that my knowledge of computers have dramaticly increased over the course of time. I even help a few teachers with problems they have on computers. It seems that I have become smarter than some teachers now. (Well, technology wise)

[gamefreak777]

Yeah scientists are always saying stuff like that. A japanese scientist said that video games stunted kids brains. The basis behind this turned out to be the same as the computer one, that they are not studying as much. So in fact the cause would be not studying as much as opposed to all these other reasons that they are coming up with.

[20by20]

Who cares that scientists say video games stunt kids brains? I've been playing games since I was 3 (Yes I said 3. First game I played was Megaman X or Super Mario World.) and i've become an A/B student. Games have nothing to do with a kid's brain. They're just complaining that kids aren't looking up useless facts that they will forget soon.

[Gare]

This depends on the children, if they can't seperate games and their lives... I've been using computers since I was 6 or 7 years old, and I'm not that dumb. On the contrary, I'm quite a good student.

However, there are children who may be dumb, cuz they spend too much time in front of their comp. So some parts of the article may be true. Maybe.

[Bertinan]

Well...in a roundabout way, you could say that computers are one of the causes(I said one, not all of it) of kids doing more poorly in school. While most of you claim you do fine in school, computers do cause alot of distraction (my grades suck now cause of it). However, it isnt really that the computers are making kids more stupid, because your base intelligence is born into you. Rather, it should be said that that intelligence is being focused in other areas. Instead of say, learning how to do advanced math, kids are learning how to shoot people up virtually, or puzzle out those complicated puzzles that RPG's almost always have. Basically, the kids are not more stupid, their just not doing as well in school. The articale uses the information about kids doing worse in school and correlates it to them becoming less intelligent. Typical manipulation of the facts, really.

Sorry if this confuses some of you. I was having that drunk feeling you get when you havent actually drunk anything yet, but your still having the effects. (notice I said yet...

[Dingy]

i was talking about USA, not to mention in the context of a plan, not in the present.

And I was talking about widening your scope beyond the richest country of the world and including the world in your plan.

[gamefreak777]

Well your brain can increase or decrease in capacity via brain stimulation or the lack thereof. Their brains are not shrinking, they are still getting stimulation, they are just not studying their school work as much etc. like you said. Your also right about the manipulation of the facts. A lot of the time they will have a study on something and then instead of saying something like "kids are becoming dumb because they are spending all their time on computers and leaving none for studying" they say "computers are making kids dumb", which is too general and is faulty logic through oversimplification. Writers do that way too much just to grab the readers attention. Then after they read it most realize how stupid the article was.

[Bertinan]

Lol...very few people realize that articles like that are, to put it in the most simplistic terms, are bullsh*it. Most parents don't look beyond the title "Computers make kids dumb," and immediately begin assuming that its correct. Us people here are different because most of us are young, not parents, and already invovled with computers deeply.