I feel as if there are pros and cons on how the Internet changes our thought process. We are in a time and generation where information is just a click of the search button away. Are thoughts are no longer "our thoughts" but more so of a remix of the things the Internet brings to our attention. Though the Internet brings a lot of current events to our attention, the price comes with a bountiful list of distractions. Music, videos, games, social media; all of these things are factors to the list of distractions that may keep us from doing productive work. You go from thinking about the issue of ObamaCare to thinking what crazy outfit is Miley Cyrus rockin' that day.Time seems to melt away when you're tuned into the internet. "Just checking your Facebook" leads to an hour of "Reading through my Newsfeed and recruiting more friends for Candy Crush." It becomes more difficult to focus on non-stimulating priorities when you're constantly having entertaining and euphoric interests popping up in the sidebar. The Internet is a tool that provides an endless amount of information for each individual without ever having to leave the comfort of their own home. This information is only resourceful if the individual can manage to steer away from the "wants' and prioritize the "needs". It takes a certain mental endurance to stay focused while on the Internet. Considering the Internet is now shaped around our interests, it's not uncommon for two or three of the things we like to be suggestions while we do our research. These interests also filter and tailor our results to relate most to the things we enjoy most. For this reason we most likely wont get accurate results for Shakespeare if we spend most of our free time on the Internet trying to figure out "What the fox says." Aside from distractions, the Internet/technology also seems to limit our learning experience in some ways. For example, most teenagers seem to lack the understanding of proper grammar, punctuation and vocabulary because we have become accustomed to technology doing it for us. I being one of those teenagers can vouch for my accusation of technology being both the pro and antagonists of education. I spent years growing used to auto correct editing and filtering my spelling mistakes and using text abbreviations to write. For this reason, my English skills have been diminished. Even now I'm sitting here clicking on auto correct to edit all of my spelling mistakes. All this rambling aside, the Internet is a setback and a advantage at the same time. It allows us concrete and limitless sources for research and informational purposes but has terrible side effects of laziness, short term memory, grammar mistakes and lack of full understanding. We've become a generation dependent on how fast our browsers can refresh and how accurately Siri can follow our commands. Internet/Technology are such powerful and resourceful creations that were designed to make our lives easier. Too bad nobody ever put a warning label on the negative impact it can have on our future generations if it's not utilized right.
