[TheOneSolo]

I actually agree with you on this issue Batffink.

I have some serious issues with technology and how it dumb's down society.

You've already touched up on a few things, so I'll do my best to avoid repeating anything that you have already pointed out.

I'm going to start with the mobile telecommunications device, also known as a cell phone. It's a great little gadget, however when it comes to text messages, and the text message language, that is something that we could do without. Everything is abbreviated, or "u r" instead of "you are." I wouldn't be surprised if young people today, are truly illiterate. They probably are.

Then there is internet. What a lovely thing. I can go to google, and type in pretty much anything, and get tons of useful information. At first I thought this was a good thing, and then I found myself studying a lot less. I used to read lexicon's and encyclopedia's for fun, but now, I don't read much of anything. Now I just go to external sources to find information when it's needed, instead of an internal source, that being my mind. It is much better to study something, and have it in your head when you need it, then to not have it, and just type it in google and hit search.

Something else along the same lines of using external sources for education or in this case, spelling, is the spell checker. Using Word, and forum's and Emails with built in spell checkers has ruined my ability to spell. What I do now, is type whatever because I know the program will correct it for me, or at least point out that I spelled it wrong. Then when I use IM, or something that doesn't have a spell checker, I find myself saying "how do I spell this word," or "does the i go before the e."

You mentioned the calculator. Yes that is another example of how technology is making it where we don't have to use our mind as much. Funny thing about that is, I can recall when I was in college, and people was using the calculator and still getting the wrong answer. Sad, very sad.

Technology has it's benefits, but it seems we are a society with a propensity towards lethargy which instead of making us stronger, is actually making us weaker.

Here is a good illustration of that. Take a domesticated pet, and put it back in the wild. It will not be able to survive as easily as a animal that has always lived in the wild and will most likely die. So it is clear that it is easy to go from wild animal to domestic animal, however going from domestic animal to wild animal is not so easy. For us, going from opening our fridge, and cutting on our stove; to having to hunt for our food and making fire with a stone and a stick would be a utter nightmare. In a sense electronic technology has domesticated us, in the same manner as when we take a wild animal and bring it inside of our warm house and put water and food in a bowl for it.

Happy New Year to you too Batffink.