Is Google Making Us Stupid?

According to the Journal of Technology and Teacher Education, Spring 2002 article, Integrating Technology into the classroom:Eight Steps to Success "Learning should be the impetus that drives the use of technology in the school....Technology integration necessarily alters the traditional paradigm of the teacher providing wisdom and the student absorbing knowledge...and for good reasons. Students must lean to search and discover knowledge and actively communicate with others and solve problems so that they can become productive life-long members of society."

Is Google Making Us Stupid? After reading this article, I thought about my experience with Google and that of my students.  I recall substituting for the technology teacher and prepared what I thought would be a follow-up lesson on animal habitats, assuming that students were already familiar with search engines.   I began the lesson with the search engine written clearly on the chart paper and bookmarked the site on each MAC laptops.  I assumed that since students had technology instruction for the last four months, four times weekly with a duration of 45 minutes that this exercise would add substance to their projects. This activity varied from confusion to joy. Some students knew what to do, some helped others with the discovery while others demonstrated reluctance to touch the keyboard or participate.  As I circulated the room, knowing that this lesson was a disaster, I quickly turned it into a discovery session. "When you pressed _____ what happened? " What did you do first, next....? What discoveries did you make? What information did you find? I later discovered from the classroom teacher that students were not given the opportunity to touch the computers during their instructional sessions. I was outraged and questioned what occurred. The technology teacher responded by saying that students are not ready to use the computers because they don't listen and they will break the keys. This is an isolated incident but how often do we find that our students know more than we do and what they don't know is our responsibility to teach and expose.

When technology became an integral part of the curriculum, it was rather exciting but soon waned for lack of knowledge and training.  Many saw this medium as an intrusion, more work to do and more time spent to learn what to do.  This new learning required extra time and time was something that teachers claimed they didn't have.  Those who welcomed "change" soon discovered that they were learners as well as teachers and their "authority" was not usurped by this technology tool.   

Does Google Make Us Stupid?  I am a tactile and visual learner.  I tend not to read manuals unless it is absolutely necessary.   My first approach is to teeter, make mistakes and hopefully learn from them.  Google offers speed in accessing information as oppose to skimming through numerous books.  I approach my blogs and research papers a little differently, for everything is written on paper first then transcribed on the computer.

I think Google is changing the way we access information, how we interact with others and how efficiently we use the medium to get what we want. "Google is motivated by a desire to use technology, in Eric Schmidt's words to solve problems that have never been solved before". I wonder how many people still have a black book or an address book? I often hear the term when you ask a question and are told to just Google it. As a search engine, Google is accessible and will solve most of your inquiry problems. Compared to an encyclopedia and other printed sources, google offers immediate connectivity to other resources that you can share with others through email, text and the like. Some may argue about the ease and the abundance of information for which to choose from but in this technological age, it is information, information and more information.  

The question remains, is it making us "stupid?"  Organizations thrive on information and "stupidity" by offering those features that will make you an expert and keep you paced with the ever changing informational era. Google, in fact may not contribute to making us "Stupid" but may in fact contribute to our "laziness" by providing social tools, tutorials, "live help" prompts to answer questions and address challenges, navigational and geographical maps, and connectivity to a host of other resources.  I remember using an electric typewriter to type my undergrad thesis.  At the time, I was so careful not to make any errors on the onion skin bonded paper which was erasable but still had traces of murky shadows.  Now as I type my papers, I am far from being accurate, matter of fact I am absolutely reckless with the assurance that spell check will catch all my errors.  

The Google articles also brought the question of ownership to mind.  Who really owns information?  There are so much information in cyberspace that management becomes an absolute problem. There are those who are absolutely paranoid about using online services and the information needed to conduct business or make transactions. Even though I became a victim of identity theft

I realized that information theft is a growing and lucrative business and no matter how careful you are, someone can make your business their business.   

In all, I don't think that Google makes us stupid if we are in sought of opportunities and trends to make our lives easier.  If anything, it may have added to our need for speed and our laziness to retain and maintain interpersonal information and minimize human contact. With Google at the helm we don't have to get lost and try to retrace our steps, and we certainly don't have to comb through a host of printed materials to get information.  With a computer, an idea and some time we can surf and search until our desired needs are met.