Evil Internet

Shanna Sissom's article from today's MRT

"First off, I am ambivalent toward the Computer Age's Internet. It affords a convenience that enforces the sins of instant gratification. It promotes laziness. It tempts the Internet's casual reader or surfer to commingle fact and opinion so rapidly the search for Truth may be abandoned. Thought and reflection are diminished. The critical-thinking process of separating fact from opinion, discerning flaws in arguments, casting aside generalities, questioning imprecise language, stimulating curiosity and "thinking things through" suffers greatly.

Even book-smart and book-devoted librarians are tempted to use the Internet instead of sauntering over to the book stacks where Truth is more likely to be found and where credibility is heightened.

The Internet is convenient."

The above is a direct quote from an article Shanna Sissom has in today's paper, and ironically enough, on mywesttexas.com.

Let me first say that I think what she says is a gross generalization. Frist off the internet is most often what you choose to make of it. So if this if this is what she thinks it is, perhaps she should look to herself and how she has used it. Next let me jump to the bottom of the quote. The exact smae "books" that she is talking about can all be found on the internet in full, but unlike the paper version, they are easily searchable thanks to modern technology. And for the record it is just as easy for a book to have incorrect information as it is for the internet.

No, i am not against books or libraries, far from it. I love to sit down and read a good book, and no computer screen will ever be able to replace the touch and feel of a book.

But I'm all for the internet too!! Yes it has the capability to all that she has said, but the same was said of many other advances and innovations. Again it all comes down to the user. The internet is not bad or good, it just is. Like most of our inventions and technology, it is all in the use.