If people are increasingly ignorant of the wisdom of the ages, how much can our advanced technology truly benefit us?

Store cashiers don't know how to make change any more unless the computer cash register tells them how much to give back. I spent all the 80s and 90s maintaining apartments in poor neighborhoods so developed the tendency to abandon cursive writing and print, so they could read it. Now I can print with a pen faster than I can write cursive because I print everything.. This probably makes people think I'm stupid or illiterate but such is not the case.

Last figures I have are from 2008 but most Americans did not read a book all year. Of those who read books the average per year was 4 books. I read a book in less than a week, depending on how busy I am so I probably read 75 books per year. Paper books, not including internet or smartypants phone.

I have discovered in life that there are 2 kinds of people. Some people live in a written world and some live in a verbal world. Some people can assimilate info from print and some have to hear it.

Paul Harvey was right:

"It is not 'one world' ".

Technology has left us more vulnerable in every aspect of our lives. Don't get me wrong. I enjoy the internet and office programs, networks, and all he amenities as much as anyone else but I have always been leery of it. Now we have to be prepared both with the technology and for when it isn't working.

WW III may be fought in an entirely new way in developed nations. Just take down their grid and blow up some satellites. That would render the biggest share of society and much of the military helpless, even possibly starving. At first computers were said to create a paperless society. That is just now beginning. It was said to wipe out jobs. That is also now in full swing. Now managers are being replaced with software. Without the human element, what will the human race become but another animal to feed? The work that will be left for mankind will just be very low skilled dirty work and possibly medical care. It doesn't sound like a better world to me. Of course there will have to be those that take care of the machines.

Our children are being prepared to accept whatever the computer tells them is correct. Consensus.

I understand the arguments you are making, but i also think that the way people live their lives are also changing, and in such a way that technology is being incorporated into their lives at such a young age, that the person is used to living with a machine. Young children find computers easy, and phones, games consoles, and other electronics as simple and easy to use, whereas the generations of older people have no clue how to use them is understandable, as they have not had the electronics being as detailed and powerful in their daily lives.

New technology can be beneficial though, and shouldn't be known to be a cause of retarding literacy, and although i also find it a big problem, its just the ways young people are. It is like slang, a part of English, non-standard, but language and culture change over time, and i think that we shouldn't be trying to change the people who use computers and technology daily, as they think that we are different too. This is partially the cause of the increasing generation gap, and the different cultures and language we have between each other will just cause more differences.

I do believe that the retardation of English is happening, but i do not think that technology is the main cause, but that technology is being used by people who have different thoughts on language.

BTW, im a teen too, but i do understand your concerns for young people, and also the problems they can cause.

The only true eternal well of knowledge is the word of God found in the bible. Filling yourself with that knowledge makes you wiser. The internet is a way of cheapening the idea of knowledge and trading value for accessisibility.