Language, the internet, and Being Smart

People are generally using technological devices more than they are communicating face to face with others. For example, I am using this venue, the computer blog, to communicate my ideas with others all across the internet. Elsewhere, a mother and her child are in different rooms of the same house, chatting with each other on their mobile devices about what to have for dinner. And of course, each one will eat dinner alone, in each other's room.

This type of behavior confuses me. It seems much simpler, and certainly more rewarding and engaging, to talk to another person face to face, rather than through a textual medium that strips additional information from the conversation. And yet, when one thinks about it, talking face to face, or looking into another person's eyes, so to speak, is probably the most confrontational aspect of human behavior. Between animals, direct contact and body language is very visceral.

The thing is, natural contact might actually impede our ability to communicate. This is because as humans, we are more cerebral than most other animals, and therefore, our ability to express complex thoughts and concepts is also far above that of other animals. I don't believe that it is difficult to express concepts related to the field of confrontation and the like when talking face to face, but in situations where more intellectual ideas are needed, it would seem that the animalistic practices of confrontation and sexual selection get in the way.

This is an intriguing thought, though gathering evidence for such an idea might be difficult. One only needs to look at face-book to gather discouraging evidence to the contrary. But the question in focus remains whether the internet is making us smarter, or whether writing on the internet somehow enhances cognitive ability more than traditional textual information.

I am not entirely convinced. Language in itself is the ability to convey meaning. And the sum of all rules which are used to ensure meaningful interpretation between to communicants could serve as a valid interpretation of the meaning of linguistic grammar. Given this, it could be argued that there are additional "rules" of grammar concerning internet use, stemming from the aspect of interactivity in text.

But possibly no. I don't see any enhancement of cognitive ability with regards to internet activity. I do, however, perceive a corresponding decrease in face-to-face social skills between people. The result of such a decrease will most likely be a deepening reliance on computers and the internet to achieve the same level of social satisfaction that we previously achieved with face-to-face interactions.

This can be seen, of course, by the increased emotional tendencies between users of sites such as face-book and the like. A person's self esteem can be affected by things that people say online, a strange phenomenon given that most people online are strangers to each other.

It could be argued that speech patterns and communicative endeavors are becoming more simplistic in how they are used. This, of course worries me and a great deal of other people One doesn't like to think of the de-evolution of the human race into imbecilic simps.

What is more troubling might be that the concept of the human race becoming stupider and stupider is often celebrated and appreciated with a mild amusement and happy cynicism by a large amount of people who use the internet. i myself have nothing to say on this matter except that the intellect is directly dependent on the vocabulary and ability to exercise linguistic competency.

This is clear in that, the higher the amount of vocabulary one may appreciate, the more likely they are to understand and comprehend the meanings associated with those words. It could even be said that to lack a word for a concept is to lack that concept completely!

I don't believe that any unified "call to action" or anything of the sort is to be undertaken. There is a large appreciation for stupidity and randomness in today's internet culture. I don't suppose this will change any time soon, as long as a random video is easier to understand and appreciate than a well written poem.