ABC News Asks: “Will GPS Make Us Dumb?”

It’s an aged old arguement, that the reliance on newer technologies makes us less capable than we were before. I’ve never completely bought that arguement myself. Yes, it is true that new technologies means, in part, that we no longer are reliant upon knowing certain things. But it also means it is no longer necessary to know certain things are are better capable of using our new tools to create new ways of doing things. Sure, there are dozens (if not hundreds) of stories of people following their navigation systems right into a building or a river. The stories we don’t hear are the number of people who get to their destination more efficently or with less stops. I don’t think technology makes us dumb. People who think critically about the world around them are neither more or less likely to think critically with newer tools, and the converse is true as well. The degree of efficency is all that changes.

Of course, that’s just my opinion. As always, feel free to discuss amonst yourselves in the comments 🙂


5 Replies to “ABC News Asks: “Will GPS Make Us Dumb?””

  1. Laptop GPS World

    Doh… No doubt people’s ability to read paper maps will decay, when we stop using them in favour of GPS maps.

    For thousands of years humans would strike a stone containing iron to produce sparks and then tinder was used to make a fire from the sparks. That skill most of us no longer have. Do we regret it? We have better ways to create fire these days 😉

  2. AnonyMoose

    Writing things down means we can tell our opinions to people beyond earshot. Unfortunately, that means that we should use proper spelling rather than just saying the word. It also means that we should proofread what we wrote because we don’t get to polish what we are saying as we repeat our opinion when other people come within earshot.

    (frank, spellcheck and proofread your article!)

  3. shanoboy

    I have to agree, technology doesn’t make us dumb. Think about how much smarter we are because we have online encyclopedias that are accessed almost instantly and quickly.

    For me, technology has forced me to never stop learning. If I do I’ll become obsolete in the IT workplace. My dad on the other hand who is probably of about equal intelligence could get by on not learning another thing for the rest of his life and his non-tech related job would be fine with that.

  4. About GPS

    Technology development is just a double-edge sword: It makes people’s life easier, but also makes people lazier, weaker than before. But you can’t stop this trend.

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