The Google Effect

5 Dariya News (Dr. Simmi Gurwara)

24-Jul-2014

There were times when laying hands on information relevant to your field was a hard nut to crack. The seekers used to hanker around libraries in their quest to ransack the shelves that embellished the reservoir of human wisdom. Academic pursuits were tough to follow and the researchers, particularly, used to go through the endless grind of retrieving information from any and every nook and corner of the possible source destination. But it was all worth it. The sweat and toil more often than not lead to productive results, ploughing the barren fields of cerebral sides. It used to keep the spark alive and the oil of the midnight lamp burning. Hard work was in vogue. But now in the age of information technology, it is looked down upon by the over zealous practitioners of the Net. The Network is growing exponentially taking in its fold the folks of all color, creed and class. No chance of any kind of inequity here. Everybody is on an equal ground. The fruits of technological advancements are being reaped by a large segment of our population that is delusional about their educational status. Everything is just a click away. Approachable. Affordable. Attainable. No harm. 

No pain, no gain-sounds clichéd today. Why look for pain when the information is at your door. Be smart. Act smart. We are living in a world inundated by smart phones and smart homes. But, the question is why then the researches point towards dismal results when the school children, even the college goers the world over are rated remarkably low on scores based on intelligentsia. It is shocking to learn about the diminishing mental levels of our social networking sites glued generation. 

There are no traces of book readers in the changed scenario. It is really difficult to draw the pleasures of book sharing from similar minds. There are few who still go the old way and rejoice flipping the pages of a classic. The inveterate netoholics have little time to appreciate all that went past them and got stored in pearls of wisdom that we find invariably in a good book. There is a cultural revolution of sorts. It has fobbed most of us of our simple and plain joys that we used to derive from a book, sitting in a quiet corner. Now in the hustle bustle of maddening rush bookish knowledge is passé, they say. Easy availability of material is welcome but mindlessness of the user is certainly not. Technological changes are forever welcome with open arms and a warm heart but they should not be allowed to steal our Gen Next of their bookish feat. If I talk about the classics, you don’t get information from them-you get knowledge which you can in all probability turn into wisdom. The chewing and digesting of information is a tardy process. It’s time consuming. You can get the information at the drop of a hat by browsing the sites but it is of little use and lesser value unless you process it by applying thought into it. A thoughtless venturing can lead you no where. It makes real sense to read about life and letters. It engrosses your heart and soul to read about the Trojan war and Achilles heel still. War and peace allures no end. The Wuthering Heights is an epic of love hate relationship. The more you know, the more you want to know. It has a spiraling effect to it.