To what degree due you think "Internet killed the "Jehovah's Witness" radio star." (page 4)

It seems to me that overall, the availability of information on the internet will result in more net defections than would be possible otherwise. I personally know a dub who is currently struggling to come to terms with some of the nonsensical aspects of their faith, and I'm fairly sure the struggle would have been completely internalized and squashed had it not been for the availability of infomation via the Internet.

Also, I don't know about anyone else, but in all my years of association with the JW religion, I observed exactly zero outbreaks of apostate thinking spreading and causing mass drop-outs in my congregations. It seems that for each person, there generally has to be a seed of doubt, uneasiness, etc for something to trigger in order to lead to the eventual collapse of the belief system. So with "apostate outbreaks," the timing of the entire thing and the choice of people the thoughts are shared with has to be just right or there's little chance of any effect, whereas the internet makes available all manner of apostate thinking any time the doubting dub is ready to learn.

Personally, although certain aspects of the religion never set well with me, the trigger event for my leaving circa 1997 had nothing to do with the internet and was more caused by critical thinking skills and ideas raised in philosophy and anthropology courses at university, i.e. Satan-school. ;-)

The internet is making people smarter.

I think that might be overstating it--availability of information, terrific and empowering though it may be, doesn't equate to increased intelligence. Also, the format, content, and presentation of a large part of the information on the internet and/or the manner in whcih we consume it seems to reinforce certain modes of thinking while distracting from or even degrading other thought patterns. For example, over the last few years, I've noticed a sharp decline in my own grammar skills, which I know derives from reading more internet content than proper books wherein someone's taken the time to do some editing; this is obviously anecodotal and I'm not equating grammar skill with intelligence, but it's a real phenomenon I've observed in myself that shows that regular internet usage can actively errode existing mental skills.

Also, from the article linked, some quotes:

An online survey of 895 Web users and experts found more than three-quarters believe the Internet will make people smarter in the next 10 years, according to results released on Friday.

So how many are "experts" and not mere users?:

Of the 895 people surveyed, 371 were considered "experts."

Any dissenters?

But 21 percent said the Internet would have the opposite effect and could even lower the IQs of some who use it a lot.

I agree. The title of my book will be "Teh internets makes u dum." ;-)

To what degree due you think "Internet killed the "Jehovah's Witness" radio star."

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A.Fenderson

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