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Are We Becoming More Ignorant?

By James Utt
By James Utt

Maybe we dont see it in Laguna Beach. After all, look at us. Of residents over 25, 97% have graduated from high school. Sixty-five percent have at least a B.A., the highest percentage of any place in the area. Our outstanding schools, with their hard working teachers, have standard test scores high above the state and national average. And yet.

Look outside our exquisite bubble and one sees disquieting signs, neon signs, flashing “warning ahead.” Nearly three in 10 Americans admit to having not read a book in the last year. This number has been on the uptick in recent years. More disturbing still is that only two in 10 of us get our news from print newspapers. But wait, you say, I get good information from the internet, social media, and late night comedians. “I don’t need books or print newspapers.” Nothing could be more disheartening for an old teacher to hear. I am always in the middle of a book and become apoplectic if my morning paper is not delivered on time.

I recently ran across a book by Tom Nichols, a professor of National Security Affairs at the U.S. Naval War College, entitled “The Death of Expertise.” He notes that there are 1 billion sites on the internet and observes, “The sheer size and volume of the internet, and the inability to separate meaningful knowledge from random noise, means that good information will always be swamped by lousy data and weird detours.”

Nichols quotes the columnist Frank Bruni, who says, “although the internet could be making us smarter, it makes many of us stupider, because it’s not just a magnet for the curious. It’s a sinkhole for the gullible. It renders everyone an instant expert. You have a degree? Well, I did a Google search!”

Alexander Pope said, “A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.” How much more dangerous if the “knowledge” is not knowledge at all, but rather a post by someone who has no real understanding of the subject. How much harm have Jenny McCarthy and Jim Carrey done with their unscientific anti-vaccine campaign? A campaign, I might add, that has gained popularity with some liberal communities.

Thanks to the internet, people can seek out sites that reinforce their positions, living in a type of echo chamber. We want to confirm what we already believe. As Nichols points out, “principled, informed arguments are a sign of intellectual health and vitality in a democracy.” This cannot happen unless we have a citizenry that knows not only their own point of view, but the arguments against their point of view. I used to tell my students that they could not really understand and defend their own position on an issue unless they were familiar with the strongest arguments against it. Thanks to the siren song of the internet, people are less and less likely to seek arguments that go against their preconceived notions.

Look, I am an old dog, and Facebook is a relatively new trick, but still. Mark Zuckerberg, what hath you wrought upon the land? According to the New York Times, the average American spends between 40 and 50 minutes a day on Facebook. This compares to just 19 minutes a day that Americans spend reading. So much to learn, so little time, so many distractions. Wouldn’t our country be better served if we had our face in a book, actually learning things from people who have some degree of expertise?

We are becoming more and more a nation where people think their “knowledge” is just as reliable as anyone else’s. Usually it is not. Let us remember the words of the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan. “Everyone is entitled, to their own opinion, but not their own facts.”

Laguna, as I said, is an exception to this trend. But I must admit, as I take my morning walks, I see fewer and fewer newspapers on driveways.

 

James Utt hopes we can save print media. He also hopes the Angels win the World Series this year.

 

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2 COMMENTS

  1. As a fellow teacher, I have seen through the years a precipitous decline of students reading. Most of their free time, even when they’re together is spent on games, Snapchat, etc. it’s concerning. The inability to discern between fact and opinion has consequences as you mentioned, with vaccinations. And it’s a deadly consequence.

  2. Did the internet cause us to seek information that confirms our beliefs or do we seek validation from any source and the internet is the easiest source to get that information? Do we dare to speak to others who hold different opinions and take the chance of having our opinions shattered by facts we. don’t. like to think about? Getting as much information as we can and then forming opinions is something we must do to be the informed citizens we all want to see.

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