Week 11

Is Google making us stupid?

This article reminds me of the Sapir-Waorf hypothesis which is a theory on linguistic relativity. The Sapir-Waorf hypothesis is the idea that the language and the culture that one's familiar with effects how one thinks. For example an Amazonian language may not have a word to distinct the difference between green and blue. Because of this the tribe who speaks the language may not differentiate between the forest canopy and the sky. I don't think Google is making us stupid, I just think it's making us think differently. The article brings up the Gutenberg press and the negative response it originally received. It was said to "lead to intellectual laziness" and create weaker minds, but really it allowed knowledge to be brought to a wider audience and society progressed. Google is essentially doing the same again today- making knowledge more accessible.

On you-tube, everyone's an anti-star.

Oh, Youtube. Before I came to Kent State I couldn't regularly use Youtube like the rest of America (due to limited bandwidth at home). I've had several experiences where I've stood blankly at the edge of a conversation about yet another Youtube video I haven't seen and couldn't watch. These experiences made me hate Youtube. As self-professed pop culture junkie it was a struggle not to have cable but not to have Youtube was torture. The idea of the website was like a dream come true- a collection of every video clip I could ever want all in one place plus the fact that any average Joe could become overnight by being themselves was fantastically exciting. It's like a never ending episode of America's Funniest Home Videos (minus Bob Saget).
Now that I have easy access to Youtube it's kind of a let down. Sure, I can watch stupid viral videos, interviews with people I find interesting or movie tailors all in one place but my expectations had building up for years. I thought is was really interesting that Evan Lushing said "When a medium is in it's infancy, the familiar and mundane will dominate it". I'd never thought about this before but it's true. This quote really stood out to me because usually we associate the familiar and the mundane with the old and familiar mediums. Newspapers, books, I never thought to consider that at one time movies and Youtube had very bland beginnings. I just thought this was interesting.