Engleza de Specialitate

Is the Internet making us stupid?

Prof. Ana-Maria Birtalan

Student: Spalatelu Valentina Cristina- IFR – an I – semestrul 1
Humanity has reached a stage in which the Internet plays a big role in all areas of our life,
starting with day-to-day activities and ending to scientifical research. Beside the benefits
that we see with our eyes wide open, there are also several side effects that have started to
make themselves visible.

As far as I’m concerned, we have the impression that the Internet has simplified our lives
but we are losing some of our abilities by letting it facilitate our activities.
Furthermore, for each question that we have, we quickly browse the Internet in search for
an answer. In this way, we are losing the connection with our Intuition, with our inner ability
to know what’s best for us.

From a Phycological point of view, the Internet may be seen as an Escapism, a way in which
we run away from our issues. A clear example for this are the Video Games, we tend to
switch from the reality that is not satisfying us, to a virtual reality in which we can be the
hero of our lives.

Taking also into consideration the sociological part, by using more and more the Internet to
communicate, we not getting closed to our friends/family, but actually losing the “human
touch”. People are using all the trendy applications, but they have lost the meaning of really
communicating, becoming vulnerable in front of someone. We have lost the coping
mechanism to deal with life and we are hiding behind a screen.
American research has shown that students using internet connected laptops and browsing
the internet show lower results than the ones that regular ones.

An interesting effect is also seen on the cognitive part. We are easily getting access to
information, can learn quicker and gain money by using means of Internet. On the other
hand, at the beginning it was thought that the Internet has made people multitasking, being
able to learn and handle different tasks in the same time. Stanford University shows clear
experiments in which this isn’t the case, by being multitasking, users loose fast the focus,
they are easily distracted.
To bring another example on the effects, we can highlight that by using the Internet in order
to showcase only the happy parts of our lives on Facebook/Instagram, we are getting more
shallow, not showcasing the inner parts of our soul. Who are we in reality? Do we really
know ourselves? Do we know what makes us happy? The Internet has made us turn more
outwards, rather in inwards.

All in all, we have come to the conclusion that the Internet has made us stupid, we tend to
run away from our issues and not face them, we are losing “the human touch”, become
more distant, losing our Intuition and who we really are in the end. If we knew how to
combine both, letting the Internet guide us through the Digital Enlightenment and in the
same time, stay focused on the present moment, let out Intuition guide us and keep the
connections alive, we could bring a balance in the world.