Annotated Bibliography: Is Technology Making Us Dumb

Is Technology Making us Dumb?: An Annotated Bibliography

Chamorro-Premuzic, Tomas, Ph.D. "Is Technology Making Us Stupid (and Smarter)?" Psychology Today. HealthProfs.com, 7 May 2013. Web. 10 Apr. 2016. Life is now more efficient, cheaper, simpler and faster thanks to the rise of apps and 24-7 connectivity. That also exposes the intellectual vulnerability of our offline life without internet access. It's come to the point to where even "a 7-year old is smarter than us, so long as she has access to the web". Life has become more complex but we hardly ever notice it because technology has made complexity simpler than ever. Psychologists explain this in terms of two distinct aspects of human intellect, namely fluid and crystallized intelligence.

The author made a very decent point on how we should be the ones controlling technology and not letting it be the other way around. We are not only becoming physically dependent on it but psychologically and emotionally dependent as well. This was proved in the article when the author mentioned both the "IPourIt" and the face recognition software on the newer slot machines. Using technology to remove people from a job is wrong on its own, but using it to work off of peoples addictions is just inhumane. We are way beyond the point where a line should have been drawn. Society needs to learn how to take back its control before we lose our independence all together. I am going to use the information that I have learned in this article to prove the hold that technology has on society. I am also going to make notice of the many new sadistic ways that the technological industry has created, in order to create a firmer control over its

Now a days it is so much easier to stay at home and be lazy than it is to be active. If something involves putting an effort in, most people don't bother anymore. With all these new apps and online services we are becoming more futile and less independent. The article used a good example regarding the downfall of maps, and how the computerized navigational systems have completely taken over. There are already a good deal of young adults that have no idea how to navigate through their own cities without using a GPS. Soon, "Boys Scouts will be teaching kids how to use a GPS instead of how to navigate with a compass". Google has made the process of learning how to do things extremely easy. There was once a time when if you didn’t know how to do something, you had to either "know someone that knew how to do it" or "try to figure it out and mess up until you got it right."Not anymore. Most people are able-bodied and can easily do or learn these things on their own, but the convenience of technology has become too convenient. Google, GPS, and technology such as Wii, Ps3`s, and laptops have had a huge impact on removing societies capability of being independent. I am going to use the information that I have learned from this article to help prove this