O'Clock, and Exceptionalism

By Douglas V. Gibbs
Author, Speaker, Instructor, Radio Host

The internet is changing the way we speak, think, and view the world around us.  Kids no longer learn cursive because, with computers and devices, who needs cursive anymore?  Ledgers are gone.  And, the language is being changed before our very eyes.

I have noticed that when I use the voice recognition option with texting, internet search, and even dictation on my phone, if I use "o'clock", the old term is simply ignored.  Even in the chat room of a game I play I quipped I was up until four o'clock in the morning, but the voice recognition put, "4 in the morning."  Is "o'clock" too antiquated of a term to be recognized anymore?

When I type the word "exceptionalism," until this one instance (hmmm, are they paying attention?) it has always been considered misspelled, and would get that jagged, red line under it (signifying it to be a spelling error).

How else has the internet changed us?

I was watching an old "Outer Limits" episode recently where it sort of predicts the internet.  On the show it calls it "the stream," and it is manifested as equipment on the temple receiving a signal at all times, to the point that since information is being uploaded directly to the brain, people don't even know how to read anymore.

Is that where we are going?  Will the information highway leads us down a road to stupidity?  What happens when the lights go out?  Will we die as a result of being too stupid to take care of ourselves without being connected to the web?

Just a few random thoughts.

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