Does technology make us smarter or dumber?

Imagine the world today without technology. We would not have defeated many diseases without the help of technology, which allowed us to learn, to understand, and defeat some diseases while slowing the progress of others. We would not have a better understanding of the planet, or how we, as human beings, evolved.

Even if our technology advanced at a very slow pace and not at the explosive rate of today's world, people would still look for tools to help them answer questions, like how do we defeat cancer? Of course that question hasn't been answered yet, but without the help of technology we would not even know what cancer does to the body. Technology helps with how we search for answers. Donald A. Norman said, "Technology makes us smart in the sense of being able to think". Technology has the ability to let us dig deeper and farther than ever before in finding the answers that we can use to improve our health and knowledge.

On the flip side, technology can impede us in growing, emotionally speaking, with all the texting and emails and instant messaging people are starting to lack in developing communication skills and learning how to deal with their emotions when someone says something that can be hurtful or offensive. We seem to be getting lazy as well, why dig through old libraries when we can Google it? Tom Hodgkinson said "Far from liberating us, technology isolates us and makes us stupid. I want no part of your sterile, bloodless brave new world". Technology can isolate us; consider the gamers, the ones that do not leave their house, or the people who cannot speak what's on their mind for fear of being seen as weak or dumb. I've found that for many people who text rather than speak over the phone have issues concerning speaking their minds.

Technology does have its drawbacks, but the pros outweigh the con's. Building sturdier homes in earthquake areas has been possible because of technology. If we had no technology you would not be reading this on a blog site. Mankind has always strived to build a better way of life through technology, if we question something we will find a way to answer that question and technology is a way of searching for answers.