Surfing the Web.

The phrase "surfing the web" has become the true meaning of the internet. Users surf from site to site, just skimming the surface as a boarder would do. There is no diving deep into the ocean of information. They gently float atop the meaningful information until the have absorbed enough to satisfy their assignment or question. Just getting their feet wet and testing the waters. Baeurlein discusses this phenomenon, in chapter 3, and how there are two main ways to use the internet, "information retrieval" and "knowledge formation". I think we're all guilty of "information retrieval", I know I am. It's so easy to search exactly what you're looking for on Google and have endless results pop up before you. Whether it is the chemical composition of Al or topics for public speaking, the answers are simply a button click and a few seconds away. The majority of time spent online while doing school related work is not typically intended by the user to be a lasting intellectual experience, just a quick memorization of facts for short term use. I think this disposable and short term way of learning contributes to the lack of true intelligence. Test scores don't show this lack of true intelligence though, in fact they show quite the opposite. Although our generation's results on standardized test may not support it, the level of true well rounded intelligence is dropping. This could be affected by the fact that we're so consumed in the technology around us. Teenagers are still smart and do well in school, they just do it in a different way, thanks to technology. The advances in the past generation have allowed us to adapt the traditional education habits to become more "effective" and productive, there's that multitasking again. Like Baeurlein discusses in chapter 4, there are many things are generation just doesn't know, specifically words. He calls these unfamiliar words, "rare words". The rare words are words that are seldom used and foreign to most teens. Rather than taking a minute or to the understand the word, they just skip it like it's not there (I've done it many times!). To me it's kind of funny that we have the ability to quickly obtain information but don't bother to look up a word we don't know. If we used the internet as it was intended and to it's fully ability, we could greatly reduce the lack of true intelligence.