Exhibit
3:
Digitally dumb?
Does
digitally wise imply digitally dumb as well? It most certainly does, and
we already see a lot of digitally dumb behavior. Although the term is
demeaning, it is an apt description of behavior that misuses technology
to escape unpleasantness or cause harm rather than using it to enhance
wisdom.
Digital dumbness includes
acts of digital plagiarism, such as deliberately appropriating online
materials without regard for copyright or proper attribution. The new
sin here is not the cheating—that’s happened forever—rather, it’s the
digital stupidity of not understanding the consequences of one's digital
acts and of using technology not to acquire wisdom but to avoid an onerous
task.
Being digitally dumb
goes even further. It includes having access to digital
technologies that are potentially enhancing yet refusing to consider the
advantages they may offer. It includes summarily dismissing, based on
old thinking, tradition, or unconsidered prejudice, the potential benefits
of technology for thinking or wisdom enhancement. And it includes using
technology in a thoughtless rather than a wisdom-enhancing way.
Just as digital wisdom
may transcend age or other categories, people of any age or profession
can be digitally dumb. People of all ages leave sensitive data on accessible
computers, misuse e-mail in incriminating ways, or forget to back up critical
files. But as a description, "digitally dumb" applies to behavior,
not people; even the most unaware can certainly move toward digital wisdom
by becoming aware of the repercussions of their behavior and of the potential
of behaving in a way that is digitally wise.
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