I’m very sure most people have gone through this ( in recent times). Have you tried to have a discussion or even an argument with some friends and all they say ( or do) is give you a link to a video? They can’t even express themselves or articulate why they believe what they believe. That can be very annoying, which led to this piece, have we gone too far? Interestingly enough we used to go to libraries to do research and in some way, the library will force us to come up with our own point of view especially if we have to borrow multiple books to do research. Obviously, you cannot give all those books to the one you are having the discussion with, therefore you will come up with a conclusion that may or may not support your argument, but at least you were able to come up with something concrete and a way to express it to your friend(opponent).
Let me make this “disclaimer”, I think it is wonderful that we have a lot of information at our disposal. Anyone with a cell phone can learn about anything these days and that is a good thing. It has even made some parts of higher education obsolete. The sad part is we have almost forgotten how to research and come up with a conclusion. It is no secret that the media focuses on human interest stories, if 2020 taught us anything at all, it taught us that most elections are emotion-based, and this is not just the US, although it happens more in the US than anywhere else because we know Hollywood is in the US. Also, the US spends a lot of money digging into the psychology of people, and it is easier now more than ever because of the collection of DATA and technology. (Take Edward Bernays, father of public relations)
I believe that technology is needed, and doesn’t have to make us lazy, it all depends on how it is used by us, but I think we are losing a big part of ourselves if we allow other people to think for us. (i.e the people who put those videos together) Again there is nothing wrong with watching videos or sending videos to people, but we are substituting videos for hard research. Technology will make us lazy only if we let it.
“Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else’s opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.”
Oscar Wilde
