Easy Access To Knowledge; Does That Make Us Less Smarter Than Our Predecessors?

Everyone would agree with me that knowledge is much more accessible than it was thousands of years ago. The way we learn is different from how it used to be. Right now we have everything at our fingertips, You have a question, you go online and browse and the answer is presented before you without even having to raise a leg.
With just a click, we have access to books, research articles online courses,music, videos and you name it, just from the comfort of your home.

All thanks to technology, we learn and grow ourselves from the comfort of our homes. From the comfort of their homes, people are creating mind blowing inventions and cure for things.
Let's talk about the 12yr old girl that made the air purifier. That was a class project, of course she did some research at home. She did not need to go in contact with the virus to know the cure or should I say solution. Of course she did extensive reading to understand and not just skim the surface.

Cover image was edited by me using Canva

We would all agree that this easy access has made life so easy for us. Imagine walking a thousand miles just because you want to learn a skill?
Like I said earlier, we can learn from the comfort of our homes, just like fashtioluwa said in his post, he's currently taking a digital skill online and at thesame time he's working on Hive and still has a physical job, what am I saying, right now anyone with a device can learn anything regardless of where you are. You don't have to quit your job and travel across the globe just because of a course you want to offer in Dubai . Everything is at our fingertips. Before now, this wasn't possible, people didn't have access to libraries, books, and all just like we do today. Distance was a barrier for some, it was only the rich that went to school and were able to learn, now anybody can.
People can expand their knowledge from the comfort of their home, and improve on themselves.

Now the question is does this increased availability of information make us more knowledgeable or does it make us not to think critically and just jump into conclusions?
Does it make us smarter than our predecessors ??

Instead of waiting for your teacher or anyone to impact knowledge, you can learn on that topic even before the lecture. On most days, I browse the Internet for information about certain topics even before the lecturer comes up to teach, I'm already at an advantage because I have an idea already. Instead of relying on my lecturer,I can now read books online on certain topics . I can say that we are more at an advantage and have so much learning ways. They're videos, podcasts, articles to read and so much more making it easier for people to retain information. You can learn using the best way that makes you understand unlike before where you'd have to read, think critically before you'd know. Now just watching a simple video explains everything to you.

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Because before now, people had to go through a lot just to learn the simplest things . Back in the days, learning was slower and people took their time to read deeper until they comprehend everything.
In other words, I'd say technology has made it possible for people to access so much information at a go rapidly,but at the end of the day, it also makes it easier for people to just skim the surface and get what they want without fully understanding and engaging with the whole context.
The vastness of information online has made it very hard to differentiate between credible sources and fake source. This has led to the rise of misinformation and the spread of half truths which can bring down the quality of knowledge and information passed down.

I'm not saying we're more smarter than our predecessors, but during their time, they analyzed and think critically to gain knowledge. While now things has been made easier for us, we can now read and still gain knowledge on thesame level the only difference is how easier things are now than it was before.

Thanks for reading❤️