New Media’s Impact on Intelligence

In Steven Pinker’s article, “Mind Over Mass Media”, he argues that every advance in media technology has sparked accusations of declining intelligence and morality. Pinker believes that these “moral panics often fail basic reality checks” by pointing out that if technology were as bad as critics painted it to be, it would be impossible for society to be at its current level of progress. Instead, Pinker concludes that “far from making us stupid, these technologies are the only thing(s) that are keeping us smart” by helping us leverage large amounts of information.

Pinker’s argument contains some faulty logic such as suggesting a questionable correlation between the popularity of television and rising I.Q. scores and citing anecdotal evidence about the failure of multitasking rather than facts. Indeed, he mentions a study on multitasking, but fails to cite it, which lends false credibility to his argument. However, some points of Pinker’s thesis can be supported despite his rhetoric. Both Adam Gopnik’s article, “How the Internet Gets inside Us” and Robert Darnton’s “The Library in the New Age” can support Pinker’s idea that technological advances are not necessarily harmful.

Gopnik argues that “morals have remained mostly static…you could already say ‘f**k’ on HBO back in the eighties” and the real change is how new media allows us to share thoughts that were once “subject to the social rules of caution”. This is easily related to Pinker’s idea that outrage over moral decline is not new. Gopnik also theorizes that there are three categories of new media critics: the “Never-Betters”, who believe that technology is leading us to a better world, the “Better-Nevers” who think we were better off without technology, and the “Ever-Waser...

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...us smart” looks flawed under broader examination. If the data available electronically is both incomplete and flawed, as Darnton believes, the quality of knowledge gained from it must also be subject to scrutiny. In considering Gopnik and Darnton’s views, I believe that technology is an asset and can open doors for us intellectually, but it should be treated as a useful tool rather than an absolute authority. Therefore, I do not agree with Pinker that technology is the only thing that will keep us smart.

Works Cited

Darnton, Robert. "The Library in the New Age." NYBooks.com. The New York Review of Books, June 12, 2008. Web. 6 March 2012.

Gopnik, Adam. "How the Internet Gets Inside Us." NewYorker.com. The New Yorker, February 14, 2011. Web. 6 March 2012.

Pinker, Steven. "Mind Over Mass Media." NYTimes.com. The New York Times, June 10, 2011. Web. 6 March 2012.