How dumb are we getting?

 



A recent series of events has caused me to raise this question... Just how dumb are we making ourselves with all this new technology? Don't get me wrong, I sit here blogging on my laptop and I have a cell phone and I work on computers all day long, however, what I see is people relying on the technology to think FOR them instead of figuring things out on their own.  Case in point, most of you reading this know that I dispatch for police and fire.  One of the officers came into dispatch the other day and he was shaking his head in wonder.  I asked what was wrong and he told me the following:
He saw a car going down the road that night with no lights on and pulled the young woman driver over. He asked why she didn't have her lights on and her explaination was that this was not her car and as it was an older model vehicle it didn't turn the lights on automatically and she didn't know how to turn them on.  The officer gave her a quick lesson on how to pull the knob on the dashboard to turn the lights on and then to push the knob to turn them off.  Being a dedicated professional, he then asked if she knew how to use the high beams.  High beams? she asked? He then showed her the "MAGIC" of pulling back on the turn signal lever to turn them up and then back down.  He then handed her a ticket and wished her a nice day.  REALLY!!!!!!!!  I am not lying to you, this is an ACTUAL event, the womans age you ask?  25!!!  Add this to the wife of a higher ranking fireman somewhere in California.  She took her husbands beloved truck to the gas station and needed to fill the tank.  She looked at the gas pumps and saw the different grades of gasoline.  Not wanting to do ANYTHING to mess up the truck, she called her husband to ask .....wait for it...... "Honey, what YEAR gas do you want me to use? The older or the newer?"  For those trying to picture this, she was refering to the octane levels of 87, 89, etc listed on the pumps!

All of this has to make you laugh, but I think we should be scared too. We are not teaching our children to think for themselves and to make decisions.  Our society is SO afraid to take the initiative and to use common sense in case we offend, do it wrong, make a misteak ! OH MY!  I think we need to wake up and take a good hard look at how ridiculous things have become.  Seriously, do we really HAVE to put a notice on our sunshields that go on the cars dashboard, "Do not drive with this in place."

Technology is a great TOOL!  But it is NOT meant to be a replacement for our  brains.  We need to really take a long, hard look at where we stand right now regarding the eduation that our children are getting.  Are we teaching them life lessons, or just how to beat the system and get by?  I worry for the younger generation and our future.  In this political year how about a campaign for common sense and common courtesy and the ability to use them!