Are We Becoming Brain Dead?  

GPS device is good. But I like map more.
When you are in an unfamiliar city for a trip, finding a destination on a map is a kind of fun. I like that feeling.
I do think people getting lazier and lazier is caused by all kinds of new stuffs. We even take exercise by the help of some machine in door rather than step out. But nobody can avoid that. this is a inescapable trend.

Well as a total technophobe, I think I woud say all this new technology is making my brain work more, not less!! I can just about operate this PC (providing nothing goes wrong!), - but anything else requires me to read through manuals while tearing my hair out - so life definately hasn't become easier for me! LOL!

lol - sometimes I think we are getting brain dead sweety! I am glad to report though that my kids whilst they love technology also really enjoy working things out in their head and a lot of kids view doing this as cool - almost like going back in time! Have you not tried printing maps via the internet and following them - combine the best of both worlds! lol We love going on mystery tours - let the kids decide what direction to go at every junction and roundabout - we have ended up in some very interesting places! xxxx

I think that you make a good point, ItTakesAllSorts. Back in my day, a word processor was a pencil and a brain. With that pencil, I could write and delete, as well as all sorts of other things.

I find that I cannot (will not) remember any one's phone numbers, because I rely on the memory functions of my telephones rather than even try to remember them. I have gotten so lazy that if someone is going to give me information, I ask them to email it to me so that I can easily print it out instead of having to actually write it down! Even if I had a PDA, I would still be the same, I'm sure.

Some of the things are beneficial and free up my brain space for other things, but those other things tend to be wasting my time on myLot or things like that. :)

I think this is the selling point of these innovations, that it will make our life easier. This generation is being treated with new gadgets that they do not use their heads and allow these gadgets to control them.

I see the lazy part, but I just moved to a new city and think that TOM TOM would be nice, because it is very difficult to read the map and drive, I keep having to pull over or park in a lot to figure out which way to go.

I think the powers that be want us to be stupid and ignorant. Ignorance breeds laziness and blame. An ignorant people is divided, and easy to dupe.
"Liberty cannot be preserved without general knowledge among the people."
--John Adams

"Only the educated are free."
--Epictetus

In a sense, yes it seems that physcially we are becoming much much more soft and squishy but in terms of mental performance we are actually becoming more and more davnced and sophisticated on this

Like our education nowadays. Grade schoolers are learning lots of newer stuff that if u went back to the 1960's it would be considered too advanced or unnecessary since students need to face the challenges of this ever changing world.So i would think mentally, wee are becoming advanced yet we are also becoming vegetative since as we use our minds too much, we are faced with lots of mental stress and yet we never have the opportunity to move ourselves physically which aint good either since we get too mentally stressed yet we become physically vegegtative

I am amazed at how many people rely on a calculator for the simplest of things which can easily be solved mentally. We learnt short cut mental arithmetic, but no one has a clue what you are talking about these days. I have even known people to work out 10% on a calculator - and that is with decimal currency!

I believe we do tend to become mentally lazy with all the technology at our disposal, but it is up to the individual how dependent they become on it. I rarely use a calculator, except for very long columns of figures, but even then I often just do it myself. I do not use stored telephone numbers in my phone, apart from those of my five sons. I prefer to read a map, and write myself a line map for anywhere "new" I am going. I also keep my mind active by doing at least one cryptic crossword a day.

Don't get me wrong. I am very thankful for technology. I could not do the amount of voluntary work I do without email, netphone (theirs, not mine) and broadband. And of course it is technology that allows us to talk about this subject here.

LOL, yes. Every time I wash clothes or the dishes in their machines, I think about this. My mom used a ringer washer when I was a kid and I was her dish washer. While I love using those things, I do draw the line, like with Tom Tom. I can read a map just fine, so why shouldn't I? Calling information is another, I have a friend that uses that thing daily. Cracks me up cause many times I have found the number in the book while she is still waiting for an answer on the phone. I do really think, we are become lazy. When our children are Grand parents I often wonder will people even need to get out of bed to get their chores done?