Anybody else think that the advent of the computer has dumbed down America?

I think it has worked both ways. I have learned much more by using the Internet and my computer in the last ten years that I probably learned in the previous ten years. But then I use my computer to look up things I am curious about. Of course for those dumb asses who just use the Internet to waste time or access porn or chat room sites it certainly has made them more stupid. My writing has improved greatly with spell check and grammar check options on my Microsoft Word program. I rarely make the same mistakes twice after seeing what I did wrong the first time. So just like the television, radio, DVD, or fire for that matter. You can use it for good or ill.

I never use spell-check, and judging by many of the questions and answers here, a lot of people can't spell and don't know how to use spell-check either. I don't know whether computers are responsible, but the situation is more evident since we see all these people's mistakes showing up on our computers.

I think we should petition schools NOT to have spell-check on computers. Let the kids look the words up in a normal dictionary, which is what they would have to do if the computers were down. I would be ashamed of myself if I had to use a spell-check.

Lets face the truth: America was already dumb to start with. You had all the fun with inventions at the beginning of the 20th century, but that is just beeing clever, not truly wise. PCs have only made it worst recently, that´s why you are so desperate to get some wisdom from all kind of shamans and gurus, and that only takes you so far.

computers are leading us into the future, sure some parts of the computer make people dumb, cuz lazy uninformed people can do a lot of stuff with a computer, but with out it, wed be limited by the human mind, the computer can do a lot more things or generate a lot more things then we can fathom. i think that the computer may enduce retardation in a lot of people, including me =) but with out it, i dont think we would go anywhere as a people. computers for the win dude

Yes! Especially in the area of reasoning, analyzing etc

that's not true.. and not entirely their faults. I employees are trained to use computers at their jobs, and the computers crash, then they won't know what to do because they weren't trained to do it. If you ask me, computers aren't the problem.. people are.