The Benefits of the Internet in Education

2168 Words5 Pages

Innovation has always been a defining feature of Humans, ever since an early ancestor of ours discovered how to use shape a rock into a hybrid hammer/axe tool. Eventually, we were able to harness and control fire. Then, some bright person discovered how to use scratches in clay tablets to record their business transactions: the early beginning of written language. The the development of writing added a new dimension to their rich oral tradition, allowing people to read the teachings and stories of people they had never met. Readers could read their tablet, scroll, or codex at their leisure, in the comfort of a location of their choosing. They had access to the musings of thinkers the world over, and so books inevitably began to be used by scholars to edify their pupils. In the five-thousand years (give or take) since the advent of writing, the book’s inclusion into the classroom has become universal. Now we have created another innovation to contend with—the Internet.

Around thirty years ago, the Internet began to take form. It easily has the capacity to store the entirety of human books and journals, plus the innumerable videos of people hurting themselves on camera. There hasn’t really been enough time to fully research the consequences of Internet use on our brains or our social interactions, but it has already intricately laced itself into nearly every part of our lives: commerce, entertainment, correspondence, sex, shopping, interpersonal interactions, research, work—and education. It has radically altered the way we interact with information, much in the same way that the written word did in the ancient world. It has been remarked that the average tween now has in her pocket (via a smart phone or hand-held computer) more i...

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... every day. One wonders what new innovation will come next, and how we will react to it.

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