Has Y!A and sites like it contributed to the stupidity of today's youth?

Question

I see so many questions on here that should be self explanatory...ie: Can I make chocolate chip pancakes with regular pancake batter?, How/when do I cancel my phone service?...do we really need a committee of people to answer questions like this?

Answer 1

I agree some of these questions are so self-explanatory that it's not even funny or maybe it is, anyways at least all the people at Yahoo Answers have found a way to channel their stupidity into a website before they go out and share it with the rest of the world. LOL

Answer 2

While Y!A may be making it easier for people to take the more intellectually lazy approach to everyday problems, it may be difficult to prove that this site has contributed to stupidity.  Stupidity has been with us for quite some time, and as Frank Zappa once said...

"It's not getting any smarter out there, you have to come to terms with stupidity and make it work for you."

Answer 3

    This is just my opinion, but I believe what has contributed to today's ignorant youth is the technological revolution.

    From 1950-1983, people were at least 10 times more intelligent than they are today, period. However, beginning in 1984, you started to have machines taking the place of jobs, mental work, thinking, manual labor, etc.

    For example, if you had to do a mathematical problem for school in 1960, a highly advanced one, the calculators then were very simple and wouldn't have helped you much; therefore, you had to use your mind. Now, when people have problems like that, most of them type it into the calculator. So, when the youth goes to math class, they're not learning much of anything except for how to enter equations.

    Spell check. I do have to admit, it's a great thing. However, back before 1990, I'd say, if you wanted to see if you had all your words right as well as the punctuation, you'd have to get out a dictionary to see if it's spelled right, not just by clicking a button. Also, for punctuation, you had to study it to understand it.

    I could go on, but mainly what I'm trying to say is, no, I don't feel Yahoo! Answers has contributed much to the ignorance of today's youth; however, I feel that the American abuse of technology has rendered the general youth quite unintelligent, and as a result, dumb questions are put down.

    But notice I said "in general." There's plenty of intelligent youth out there in this country, just considerably less than it used to be. In fact, the people who come on here usually are smart because they're seeking knowledge, when more than half the time that doesn't happen anymore.

    Thanks for asking. :) Great question.

Answer 4

Yahoo Answers is a free forum for everybody, and it reflects the population.  Some questions are insightful and intelligent, while others are... less so.  But that happens everywhere - it just demonstrates the spectrum of intelligence rather than being a contributing factor to stupidity.

Answer 5

I think all Y!A has done is provide a forum for such questions to be posted; unfortunately, many people appear to have taken to it as a way to troll, instigate flame wars, get free (and easily accessible) information without the trouble of looking it up, and solve every single problem in their lives-- like, "my chiwawa et some rat poisin, whatdo I do?????" Uhh, I don't know, CALL A VET?!?!?!!!

Answer 6

Ha ha. What do yo mean youths? Seriously, I don't think so because Y!A isn't used frequently among people outside of America. I think... At least not in Sweden, that's for sure! Maybe that's the reason why people outside of the US think that americans are stupid(no offense. The stupid ones rely on the smart ones to help 'em out in every situation. But then they should learn something from their questions and I just poked a huge hole in your theory.