The True Power of the Internet Affects Almost Everything

[MineralMan]

Yesterday evening, I was engaged in swatting flies on my front room picture window. For some reason, we've been infested with the creatures. At one point, one swat terminate three of the annoying insects. "Three at one blow!" I exclaimed. My wife said, "What?" I struggled to remember the source of my expression, but knew that it was a reference to something. I couldn't remember the source, though.

So, I picked up my Kindle Fire and asked Google in its browser. After failing to get a result, I suddenly remembered that the actual line was "Seven at One Blow!" That did it. Google linked me up to the Brothers Grimm fairy tail, "The Brave Little Tailor," which I read and remembered. Here's the thing, though: I read that fairy tale at about age 8 in a book of Grimm's fairy tales my parents had. I remembered the reference, but not its source.

Without the Internet, I probably wouldn't have been able to recover the source. I don't have a copy of that book, and my last reading of it was 64 years ago.

https://www.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm020.html

Or:

My point is that everyone now has instant access to the answer for almost any question. We no longer have to wonder about the source of something, and can find almost any information with just a quick search. I grew up in a time where every question of any obscurity meant hours in a library searching for an answer. No longer.

Everything is available to us today. We needn't be ignorant of things. If we're unsure, we can get the information we need. If we read something, we can fact check it almost instantly. We can learn about almost anything at almost any level of knowledge, from simple basic information to graduate school-level materials.

We need to make maximum use of this new access to information. There's no longer any excuse for ignorance. The answers are there. All we need to do is search for them, check the facts, and act from knowledge.

[qazplm135]

1. ignorance no

but false information also exploded exponentially.

[murielm99]

2. We can use the Internet

for these types of searches, but we have to be educated about this. We need to know the difference between fact and opinion. Too many people misuse the Internet, even for the simplest searches.

I still use the library for much of my research. Libraries have changed a lot in the last few years, but they are still in the business of providing facts and a lot of good reading material.

[MineralMan]

3. Fact-checking. I mentioned that. We can do that, too.

We've always had to do that, even before the Internet. There has always been misinformation. We have to be smart about fact-checking stuff.

I even went back and added boldfacing to those references, just in case someone didn't see them.

[murielm99]

6. I taught computer classes

at a middle school years ago. Social media had not yet exploded to what it is today.

I spent several lessons on teaching the students how to tell factual from fictitious websites. I did it in a gentle way, using, for example two websites about Barney the dinosaur. One was the real site, and one was a spoof.

I gave them a chart about national magazines and newspapers, too. It rated them from liberal to conservative. I said I was not judging, and the list had been compiled by professional journalists, not their teacher.

I asked them, "What about the National Enquirer? Is it on there?"

They were smart enough to understand why I had asked that. Most of them hooted with laughter.

[Locrian]

4. well, sort of.... depends on what you're looking for...

My point is that everyone now has instant access to the answer for almost any question. We no longer have to wonder about the source of something, and can find almost any information with just a quick search. I grew up in a time where every question of any obscurity meant hours in a library searching for an answer. No longer.

Sure, if you want to know the box score for a 1962 cubs game, the actress who played xx in xx movie - pretty handy.

But you can also effortlessly find and filter information to suit any preconceived bias or belief. Automatically if you only go to certain sites, FB feeds, etc. All in the safety of your home (bubble) without engaging other persons or their viewpoints.

In addition - you can find people that will obsess over the intimate details of *anything* - without its (the detail) relevance in the context of the whole. In other words - obsess over unimportant details.

Sure it's a powerful thing - opening doors etc, if you're curious. But also a powerful tool to build an iron clad bubble around oneself.

[marylandblue]

5. The internet is a double-edged sword

You can get simple facts easier than ever, especially on non-controversial topics like the contents of fairy tales. But political misinformation spreads faster than ever. Larry Kudlow said Trump brought the deficit down. It will be repeated all over the Internet. How many people are going to check it out for themselves? How many don't even know where to get official deficit numbers?

Also I've noticed people now overestimate their superficial knowledge from the internet. You can look up basic information easily. But to really understand a subject in depth still requires years of study. But if you can't link immediately to a website that spoonfeeds it to them, people think your years of study are worthless.

[Baclava]

7. Why carry mountains of data in your head when your phone can do it for U!

A 7 year old with a smart phone is smarter than most adults without one.

Chew on that, lol

[MineralMan]

9. What's in your head helps you know

What to search for. It also helps you sort out truth from nonsense.

[CloudWatcher]

8. it's tough ...

It's pretty awesome. I remember using both Gopher and Mosaic when they first came out and thinking they were pretty cool, but had no idea so much would be online so quickly (relatively speaking).

And over the years I've had countless discussions with my son about what sources to trust and how much to trust anything that you have read. Now he's started bringing up arguments from epistemology and I just grumble and go back to cursing Trump and finishing my beer. He's 22 now but this has been a continuing discussion since he was about 10.

And with Europe's 'right to be forgotten' laws it's not going to get any easier.