Does Technology Lead to “Fake” Intellectuals?
I was recently listening to Opie and Anthony, a radio show on SiriusXM, and they began to discuss how teachers were having a problem with their students looking up answers for everything on their smartphones. Kids are not trying to figure out answers on their own, they are immediately turning to their phones for guidance. They are basically copying and pasting their homework. The problem is that students will do really well on all of their homework because they can quickly find and copy the information, but they are doing poorly on tests because they are not retaining the information.
The same problem can be seen in grown individuals. People regurgitate information they find online and seem to be very smart when you first meet them. Then the more you hangout with them the more you hear the same conversations taking place between them and other individuals. You’ve come face-to-face with a “fake” intellectual.
So what are some ways to know you’re dealing with a “fake” intellectual? If they are talking to you about an article in the New York Times, but their iPhone case has a picture of Justin Bieber on it, you might be dealing with a “fake” intellectual. When asked to write something that reflects their own thoughts and opinions they panic and spit out a cluttered incoherent mess (hopefully that’s not what I’m currently doing), that’s definitely a sign. The most surefire way to expose a dumb smart person is to have them face a problem and try to figure out a way to solve it. There are many situations in everyday life that require a person to think quickly to solve a problem, if you’re reasonably intelligent this shouldn’t be a problem, but for some people it is.
So is technology destroying intelligence levels? Probably not. There have always been bright people and not-so-bright people. Nowadays we might just get a few more of the not-so-brights who can pass themselves off as smart for a bit.
Justin Maas is a social media community manager at fishbat. He has worked on accounts in a variety of industries such as skincare, jewelry, and food. He graduated magna cum laude from the University of Miami with a BSC in Advertising.
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