Pixelated Brains and New Media

Google and the End of Wisdom

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[10 July 2009]

By Bob Batchelor

Google is God

We are producing a generation of lazy thinkers who gleefully use the information easily access via technology as an excuse for shoddy cognitive abilities.

The challenge educators face is simple on the surface, but complex in its repercussions. Returning to the message on the church sign, I think one would be hard pressed to find a mainstream American under the age of 30 who did not feel that all their questions could be answered by Google. Today’s students, from first graders to those in graduate school, have been taught to find specific, correct answers. Google does this quickly and efficiently. For them, Google is a godsend. Or, perhaps, as New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman once asked, “Is Google God? “ Friedman posed the question six years ago, but it is relevant today, given the way young people have grown reliant on the search engine in that time.

Take, for example, the stories I hear more and more frequently about graduate students citing Wikipedia in research papers or middle school students who cannot conduct the most basic library research and, as a result, turn in papers cribbed from the first five Google results, whether those hits consist of BillyBob’s Shakespeare blog and the like or a reputable academic or government site. What today’s students do not realize is that what Google provides is sometimes fact and oftentimes opinion – but never answers. Sadly, I have even seen several Wikipedia citations in academic journals.

In the last year, I estimate that I have taught approximately 850 students in a large lecture class at the University of South Florida in Tampa. Since the class focuses on the development of mass communications historically and culturally, we spend a great deal of time discussing the Internet and social media.

From class discussions and the online journaling the students complete throughout the course, I realized that two profound consequences arise from the pervasive use of Google and other forms of Internet-based technology, such as Wikipedia:

  • Most troubling is that few – perhaps a mere five to 10 percent of the students – will read anything assigned in hard copy, because they no longer have the ability to concentrate long enough to read, particularly from books. It has gotten so bad that one student told me that he won’t even wait for a Web site to load if it takes more than two or three seconds! What hope does a book have under these circumstances, whether it is Hemingway or their mass communications textbook?

  • In general, students are willing to forfeit advanced thinking (critical thinking, in-depth research, and healthy skepticism) for the speed and quickness of Google search results. They are so programmed by standardized testing in K-12 education that finding “facts” online is deemed sufficient to meet college-level expectations. Since standardized tests rely heavily on multiple choice examinations, the search for the single, correct answer is paramount.

    • Unfortunately, models evaluating critical thinking, particularly Bloom’s Taxonomy, rate this kind of knowledge acquisition the lowest. As a result, America is producing many college students and later graduates who can only manage the most basic thinking skills, such as recall and memorization. This may get them through college – collecting the lambskin diploma they feel is their right, given the customer service attitude of many students – but it will not prepare them for the rigors necessary to succeed as lawyers, political analysts, artists of caliber, or other creative professionals.

    Poor critical thinking in college leads to substandard thinking as adults, not the kind of skills necessary in confronting global challenges. Thus, the reliance on Google and Wikipedia for quick answers in completing a college-level paper has ramifications. We are producing a generation of lazy thinkers who gleefully use the information easily access via technology as an excuse for shoddy cognitive abilities.

    Most students are not fond of the alternative. The antithesis of simple thinking is hard work based on reading, discussion, reflection, and creating new knowledge based on the accumulation of facts, and basically critiquing one’s own thinking. Instead of putting forth such effort, which is certainly difficult, today’s students use technology as a way of outsourcing their thinking – no questions asked.

    While early Web gurus believed the Internet would democratize the world and provide a democratic platform of critical thinking about the world and oneself, today’s students use the Web to surround themselves with people, brands, and topics that are compatible to their views. As such, students follow every move of their “friends” on Facebook or Tweet back and forth with people who are just like them and have the same worldviews. They are not challenged to consider another way of looking at and being in the world – they are missing a critical exercise in compassion. 

    What do today’s college students do with the free time created by cutting corners in their study time? (Those that don’t have to hold down jobs while in college, anyway.) Many simply spend more time on Facebook or watching YouTube or Hulu videos. For evidence to back up this statement, take a walk through any university library in the United States. What one finds is a sea of laptops logged on to Facebook, with students concerned more about creating pithy status updates than – gasp – delving into a good or at least illuminating book.

    Teachers will do just about anything to promote reading, but the pleads fall not on deaf ears, but ears filled with the ever-present iPod buds. This summer, I offered an electronic copy of a text and another in three-holed looseleaf just to gauge student interest. I thought that perhaps if they did not think it looked like a textbook, they might actually read it. Wishful thinking, they still do not read the book.

    At many other universities in America, the library has morphed into a social setting, barely even pretending to be a place to study. College libraries have become a space for sharing YouTube videos, chatting with sorority sisters or friends, but not for quietly reading. At USF, for example, most students beeline directly for the Starbucks just inside the doors and immediately leave after receiving their order. If students congregate anywhere, it is in common areas where they have wi-fi access and can talk. The library is basically empty.

    The long-term consequence of ignoring critical thinking skills is that people rely less on the power of their own minds and more on the “facts” discovered online – and equate that unquestioned information they may have retained for a while with actual knowledge. The status quo is no longer questioned.  Sadly, this is the kind of thinking that is rewarded in today’s academic institutions. I would guess that we have students graduating with honors who have barely cracked a book in over four years.

    Wisdom develops over time as a person stacks up experiences and finds measures to constantly reengage with the changing nature of the world at large. Relying on answers from a search engine, even if it produces thousands of results faster than the blink of an eye, cannot compare to the simple, beautiful act of sitting quietly for 15 minutes, disconnected from the computer—and thinking.

    Is Google God…Do questions exist that the search engine cannot answer? These are challenging issues. The transformation that must occur is moving from using Google and the Web as a means of searching for facts to using it as a tool for exploring, interrogating, and questioning the larger world.

    By the way, typing “Is Google God” into the search engine produces 82.6 million hits.

    Bob Batchelor teaches at the University of South Florida and writes on modern American popular culture. He has written or edited 10 books, including The 2000s (Greenwood Press) and the four-volume American Pop: Popular Culture Decade by Decade. Bob is currently working on books examining John Updike and Bob Dylan. His Web site is at bobbatchelor.com and he runs the blog pr-bridge.com.

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    Comments

    You make many excellent points.  ...yes, “the critical exercise of compassion” seems rarely practiced by too many who believe that their lives are complete with their 352 Facebook friends and no interest in world news.  Thanks for the wonderful article, Bob.

    Comment by Lisa Hoffman-Reyes — July 10, 2009 @ 9:08 am

    Hi Lisa, happy Friday! Thanks for the kind words about the essay. Ironically, I’m no Luddite. I love technology, just not as a shortcut to actual thinking. Imagine that…

    Comment by Bob Batchelor from Florida — July 10, 2009 @ 10:26 am

    Hi Professor B,

    You are correct.

    I am guilty of being one of those people who googles to self-diagnose my illnesses and freak myself out about all the things I find online about the medicine I was prescribed. I’ve had doctors say similar things about this.

    Good article!

    Comment by Danielle Richards from Tampa, FL — July 10, 2009 @ 11:06 am

    Great article! I find that in my own business of helping companies connect with their customers the biggest problem I have is getting people to think. They are not used to thinking and their brain has atrophied. We live in an attention economy where attention is scarce. The success of a business in the “new economy” is helping your customer to not have to think! Not throwing the whole gammit to the customer, leading them. That is the hard part when you have a generation who have such short attention spans and requires entertainment. The baby boomers on the other hand, for the most part don’t have a clue what has happened and they live in fear and pretend to know what they don’t know. Interesting times!

    Jeff Payne
    http://success.ascendworks.com

    Comment by Jeff Payne from Austin, TX — July 10, 2009 @ 11:34 am

    Great exploration of an issue with global implications for our future. I think that your experience at USF over the past year exposes the sad truth that digital access is actually becoming more valuable than digital content. Ironically, the execs and engineers at Google were saavy enough to design and mass-market a virtual substitute for “actual knowledge,” and they obviously did so without the benefit of Google!

    Comment by Dris Stephen from Florida — July 10, 2009 @ 2:34 pm

    One of the things I say most often is, “if there were chips I could have implanted in my head to keep me online 24/7 I’d get ‘em in a heartbeat!” But I also find myself saying, “I wanna be not more dumber!”  My life, both personal and professional, revolves around technology.  I relented and created profiles on just about every popular online hangout.  I try to convince myself that they are for business promotion and so that I can keep up with the times but I’m not kidding anyone.  I just love lurking online.  I get pretty much all of my information from online sources.  In fact, and don’t hate me, but I constantly tell my business partner that “Google is your friend” every time he asks me a dumb question because he’s too lazy to figure something out on his own.  However, I have found that over the past 5 years I have gotten dumber every single day!  I would be helpless without the internet and I would bet that I use Google at least 20 times a day!  Google on my laptop.  Google on the 2 computers at the office.  Google on my iPhone.  Google may not be my God but perhaps Google is my religion!

    Comment by CJ Maziarz from Buffalo Grove, IL — July 10, 2009 @ 6:18 pm

    Wow! It’s great to see this topic generate enthusiasm and real-world examples.

    @Danielle—I think we all diagnose via Google now, particularly since the traditional institutions seem somehow less authoritative. I don’t have a challenge with people using Google. It’s a great tool. The difference is if one simply stops there and doesn’t realize that there are other means for acquiring information.

    @Jeff—Thanks for the example from the business world! It is scary to think that declining critical thinking skills impacts everyone, not just college students raised to have faith in technology. “Helping your customer to not have to think” worries me. Great insight into a difficult problem.

    @Dris—You nailed it! “Access” has won over “content” for now. I could have written another essay about the digital divide, another challenge with access and content.

    @CJ—Another great real-world example. Being a small business person, you need to utilize those outlets, but it certainly does have a downside. I agree that Google can be your friend, but not the way most people use it. We should use Google and other online resources as a means for broadening and expanding our own thinking. My students use it as a way to not think at all. The Google “hit” becomes their thinking. That is sad and has consequences. Google as a religion is a great analogy, particularly if the religion is one that enables deeper thinking, rather than dogmatic thinking.

    Thanks again, everyone!

    Comment by Bob Batchelor — July 11, 2009 @ 8:32 am

    Well done, Bob. Fascinating perspectives and disturbing observations, that students and those of us in other age groups are so hooked on high tech shortcuts. Tech is a mixed bag, no doubt about it.

    Comment by Harvey Radin from San Francisco — July 11, 2009 @ 2:49 pm

    @ Harvey—Thanks for the kind words and wise thoughts. My wish/goal is that my students learn to use the tech-related shortcuts for their benefit, rather than merely outsource their thinking to Google.

    Comment by Bob Batchelor — July 12, 2009 @ 7:28 am

    Bob, I couldn’t agree more with your article and it is both a sad and dangerous set of affairs for a participatory democracy. Yes, more people can “participate”, but what will be the quality of that participation and how will they be able to critique and judge what is good for society versus just their own basic needs. I’m sure the powers that be in government ruled by fascists would love for their citizens to never read books. We’re seeing how easy it is for Iran to block out parts of the Internet. So when critical thinking goes away and the information is controlled, a lamb-like populace eats up the “facts” dished out at them.

    Pick up some history books people and actually read them. And then think about them and your time and place.

    Only too recently, I strolled through the quads of a top 10 US university and couldn’t find a single student carrying any books or reading any books, but I saw lots of eyeballs glued to computer screens and cellphones. This is a university known for churning out Nobel Prize winners for heaven’s sake.

    Those arguing that the Internet frees information and makes for a better more educated society miss the point that the Internet is only a tool in that process and can’t and shouldn’t replace the real work of reading, study and critical thinking. The brain is a muscle like all the other body muscles that must be exercised and challenged to stay prime and fit. Falling back on the easiness of Wikipedia copy and paste is pretty much the same as grade school kids who used to copy passages out of Britannica, but most kids grew beyond that after the third grade.

    Comment by Amy from Boston — July 12, 2009 @ 8:11 am

    Thanks for sharing your article Professor Batchelor!  It’s definitely been fascinating to see how college academia has progressed in the few short years since I graduated.  I really enjoyed reading your take on it and pondering those questions for myself.  Great writing!

    Comment by Melinda from Tampa — July 13, 2009 @ 6:33 am

    So many good points here that remind me of what I’ve been writing about, too. 
    Perhaps the Internet has become the ultimate in personal-thinking-space “room decorating,” and God is the penultimate search term?

    Thinking is social, less Cartesian than we ever thought, and critical thinking has become more and more dependent on exchanging ideas among other people rather than debating ideas inside our own minds. I believe it’s a no brainer that cell phones and the Internet have facilitated this b/c our brains are adaptable to new stimuli.  We have been and still are a society that relies on being spectators…now that spectator/entertainment mentality has seeped into our thought patterns.

    I think Leonard Shlain’s book, *The Alphabet and the Goddess* applies here - we can’t forget that our image-based society has affected us in positive ways, too. 

    Thanks for posting this, Bob.

    Comment by Kim Murray from Tampa — July 13, 2009 @ 7:09 am

    @ Amy—Great info! I can only imagine, since you’re from Boston, which top 10 university you referenced. I received private e-mails from librarians all over the country mirroring what you indicated.

    @ Melinda—My wife teaches English and Reading at a local middle school, so I hear about the next generation of students way in advance. You would be even more fearful if you heard those stories, believe me.

    @ Kim—Fantastic thoughts! I look forward to you sharing some of your writing on the subject. Certainly, those of us who teach writing at the college level (any level, really), see the consequences of technology on students’ thinking skills. Teaching a large lecture class for six straight semesters pushed me to a point that I felt I had to write more about the topic. We’re at a crossroads here. The tech push to offer classes online and the lack of critical thinking is going to transform the university forever…and most people are applauding the change, rather than shaking in their boots.

    Comment by Bob Batchelor — July 14, 2009 @ 7:13 am

    Professor Batchelor,
    I have graduated, graduated again and have been working in public relations/ mass communications for over a year. After reading your article I realize how much I really enjoyed and miss your insightful commentaries that you would often deem ‘tangential’ during class. I would dare to say that they are probably more valuable to me now than some of the content that we covered from the syllabi. I’m excited to continue to be exposed to your refreshing and enlightening commentaries.

    On another note, my boyfriend is a middle school history teacher and I can definately relate to hearing first hand about changes in academia, as well as changes in what society expects and accepts from young students.

    Comment by Ashlea from Tampa, Fl — July 15, 2009 @ 7:15 am

    Once again, we find ourselves conversing about the brains and behaviors of the “under 30” crowds.

    But I have several questions for you: Is the Bible God, Is the Koran God, Was Jesus the son of God, Was Buddah the guide to a better life, Was Moses really the savior of the Jews, Were Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and Alexander all just full of shit, will blowing yourself get you to Heaven?

    Look at the trend, what do you see?

    All of these people and books were followers or followed based on a single idea. Hmm, a single source perhaps?

    Wow, what a concept, if you are a narrow minded person, you will not go very far—in fact—you will more than likely live a shitty life under the rule of some “higher power.” MUCH LIKE THE WHOLE HISTORY OF HUMANITY!

    If we, as intellectuals know this, why keep wondering about why people get so infatuated with a single source and do something positive that will make them wonder about the rest of the world around their simplistic box lives.

    Hey “youngens” reading this: Quit being lazy asses and wonder why everything around you sucks! Care about your surroundings and stop being so damn narcissistic! When this government, and the rest of the world governments, decide to take everything from you; how are you going to impede it?

    Want to know how? DO SOMETHING, get off Facebook, get off your porn sites, and do something. Care for someone, embrace family time, help eliminate divorce, kill Hip Hop like we kill Disco. Oh, oh! If you read this far, I just pissed you off didn’t I… Not HIP-HOP!

    Generation X (Not you prof. B., you know I love you):

    Why are you making such a big deal about the “digital generation” and somehow connecting it with youth. What generation do you think came up with these technologies? What generation is the one throwing all this garbage down young people’s throats? Do you think that there is an 18 year kid at Google writing all this programs? No, there is a thirty some, forty some year old, so how is this our problem or fault? Is this not how EVERY corporation gets rich in this country? Cater to the young…

    Greed and keeping people dumb have always walked hand and hand, which is why every establishment in the planet has used one of the ideas mentioned at the beginning of my response to keep people in lala land. I am sorry, but this is nothing new.

    If we want real change to happen, EVERY ONE MUST DO SOMETHING!

    Comment by Alex Santiago from Lakeland, Florida — July 16, 2009 @ 12:04 pm

    — PopMatters sponsor —

    I guess the problem I always have with articles like this is the assumption that there was a golden era of intellectual thought and debate before the internet existed. People get what they want out of information sources, whether it’s a book or a computer search engine. If a book or film didn’t suit their worldview, they ignored it just as much as a kid will when they read a blog they don’t like.

    As for being apathetic about research and coursework, I don’t know. Maybe they’re just tired of jumping through academic hoops for an expensive piece of paper.

    Comment by L.B. Jeffries from South Carolina — July 16, 2009 @ 1:23 pm

    @L.B. Jeffries- Thank you!

    Comment by Alex Santiago from Lakeland, Florida — July 16, 2009 @ 2:17 pm

    “There is no expedient to which a man will not resort to avoid the real labor of thinking.”
    Sadly, I’d forgotten to whom this quote should be attributed. However, typing the whole thing into Google jogged my brain sufficiently that I could confirm that yes, it was Sir Joshua Reynolds (which came up as #1). It’s a great tool, but as you so clearly explain, it’s still just a tool. Thanks for helping the rest of us think it through.

    Comment by Tom Klemens from Chicago — July 16, 2009 @ 5:14 pm

    @ Ashlea—Thanks for the kind words! I (half-heartedly) joke with current students that no one should be allowed to make major life decisions until they’ve paid a mortgage, so I certainly understand how getting out of a college mentality enables one to mature. Ahh, but again I’m becoming “tangential,” ha, ha.

    @ Alex—I love your idealism, coated with a large dose of realism. Keep up the fight, brother!

    @ L.B.—I don’t think there is a “golden era” of learning. I do, however, find that the reliance on technology (vs. reading, for example) among today’s college students has real consequences. They have more information at the push of a button than any other generation in history, yet they use this power to watch YouTube videos and read celebrity gossip. I don’t think they are the “dumbest generation,” like some other writers—perhaps least critical thinkers is a better tag. They don’t want to jump through a single hoop that isn’t electronic. In fact, students today treat college like Wal-Mart…“I pay my tuition, I get my diploma” and if there is a challenging course or teacher, they look for the customer service department. Some are even sending mommy and daddy to do so.

    @ Tom—Thanks for the kind words!

    Comment by Bob Batchelor — July 17, 2009 @ 7:39 am

    @ LB Jeffries

    You say: “As for being apathetic about research and coursework, I don’t know. Maybe they’re just tired of jumping through academic hoops for an expensive piece of paper.”

    That’s probably the most depressing thing I have heard in a very long while. The whole point of college is to get an education, to learn critical thinking skills, and to grow as a human being, not to “jump through hoops” as you put it or get an “expensive piece of paper.” If someone isn’t truly interested in intellectual development, they really don’t belong in a liberal arts college. They would be better served by learning a trade, which is a perfectly honorable and useful thing to do and may even ultimately be more lucrative. But cribbing from Wikipedia out of laziness and spending your college life texting your friends is not only a waste of everyone’s time, but a real slap in the face to poor kids out there who would love to go to college, but don’t get the chance.

    Comment by Amy from Boston — July 17, 2009 @ 9:01 am

    @AMY: Although I agree that people should go to college because they truly want to, we cannot forget that we are also in a system that since childhood tells us that we HAVE to go to college to do or be a somebody. We hear this from parents, teachers, counselors, friends, you name it.

    Please, do not make this sound like it is such a simplistic solution because it is not. Everyone talks about the influences and pressures of the media, but our peer pressures are greater than smoking pot and/or drinking. I am afraid that a good number of people are going to college to get an “expensive piece of paper” so that they can at least land a shitty cubicle job that pays fifteen dollars and hour for the rest of their miserable lives. Hierarchy is real.

    I have a greater education than most people in this country and I am still picking up trash for a living… You do the math.

    Comment by Alex Santiago from Lakeland, Florida — July 22, 2009 @ 10:03 am

    @ Amy & Bob

    I’m not trying to slight the liberal arts education, I’m a product of it and I enjoyed my time studying. But if they want to know why their students are apathetic, they did it to themselves.

    A person has an extremely hard time getting an advanced job if they do not have a college diploma. Most of the time, what you studied to get that diploma doesn’t even matter. The consequence is that people just want to get the diploma and then move on to actually having a job.

    Because having a college degree is now a basic necessity to compete in the job market, you change the nature of a liberal arts degree. I’m not really surprised most people just treat the whole process like a Wal-Mart now.

    Comment by L.B. Jeffries — July 28, 2009 @ 6:57 am

    Professor Batchelor,
    Thank you for sharing this article with me. I enjoyed reading your writing. I’m sure whoever put those letters together on that sign did not fathom the discussion it would inspire among people simply driving by. Or is that the sad part? Shouldn’t it have sparked the interest and thinking of EVERYone driving by?

    As a college student myself, I see first-hand the effect that the internet has on our generation. I personally wouldn’t use the internet if I didn’t have to, but unfortuantely you can’t get by today without an email address, a profile on some form of social media webite, and Blackboard. Just to prove my avoidance of the computer, this article was written back in July and I’m just now learning about it!

    However, I don’t think it’s all bad. All these things that I mention are necessary for speedy information sharing and can be useful TOOLS, like you said. I agree that they should only be used as tools and not by substitutions for thinking.

    Perhaps in the future we’ll be holding G.A. meetings: Googlers Anonymous. Google Disclaimer: Only for use in moderation. Could inhibit brain function.

    Comment by Sarah Page from Tampa — September 12, 2009 @ 2:54 pm

    Professor B,

    Great article! I am always inspired by your insight.

    “Relying on answers from a search engine, even if it produces thousands of results faster than the blink of an eye, cannot compare to the simple, beautiful act of sitting quietly for 15 minutes, disconnected from the computer—and thinking.” 

    Think of what three hours could do.  It’s the reliance of instant gratification that is scary. When we become so dependent on the “hard facts”, right or wrong, we lose the essence of pondering and ultimately lack the crucial elements that seperate us from artificial intelligence. Like Carr wrote -

    “Over the past few years I’ve had an uncomfortable sense that someone, or something, has been tinkering with my brain, remapping the neural circuitry, reprogramming the memory.”

    There are numerous of other researches to be done for the common good of humanity but when we lack a true identity, we lack the ability to truly help ourselves and the world around us which makes this a vital “mystery”.

    Thanks again Professor for answering the questions!

    Comment by Adam Richards from Tampa — October 20, 2009 @ 10:16 pm

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