The Internet Is for… What?

(With a nod to Avenue Q.)

Last night I beat Tommy at an eighth-grade math problem. If you are at all familiar with Tommy, or me, or eighth-grade math, you will be impressed, but you won’t be surprised that it’s only because I cheated and Googled it.

This morning, I thought of someone I went to high school with and came across a photo album that, judging from the pictures of people I haven’t seen in years (and the grammatical incorrectness of the captions), belongs to an ex-boyfriend. Again, surprising.

And it made me think about the huge range and ease of finding information.

Is it altogether a good thing that it comes so easy? A whole generation knows nothing but taking the easy way out. (When was the last time you used a card catalog? Or even went to the library? Or just plain used a book to find something you didn’t know?)

Of course we should take advantage of our technological advances, etc., etc. And we can’t forever be startled by it – it becomes natural. But are we coasting? Are we losing some analytical or retentive capacity? We are used to information shortcuts, but how have we taken advantage of that gain to improve ourselves?

I’m a bit pensive, this morning, and sounding oddly Dustynian because of it.