The Cure for Google-Brains.

The Cure for Google-Brains.

I think we can all agree that thanks to Google, our youth have more access to information in the palms of their hands than their parents had in entire libraries. 

What this technological marvel has made, is a society of young people incredibly skilled at leveraging information, to which there is no limit to what they can accomplish with a click of a button.

Don’t know how to build an origami gyroscope? 

Google will tell you.  (Heck, there’s a how-to video on youtube.)

As with all technologies, there is a trade off. 

With limitless access to ideas and information, and the training we receive from video games, our youth has been trained that answers are easy to come by, that if you’re having to work hard then you’re probably doing something wrong, and that the answers to our challenges will highlight themselves for us if things get too difficult.

Again, this inspires today’s youth to believe that anything is possible, that anything can be learned at the touch of a button and that ideas are what are important rather than the process used to achieve them.

But what our youth is forgetting how to do, is to persevere. 

We are forgetting how to try something, fail, try again, get frustrated… and keep trying.

Edison failed 10,000 times before inventing the light bulb.  Colonel Sanders was rejected 1,009 times before a restaurant accepted his idea of a licensed chicken recipe.

The Google/Video Game/Youtube culture of today is fantastic for providing arenas for creativity, and for leveraging other people’s strengths while simultaneously devastating to the individual’s ability to grow past their own limitations.

Just as the advent of the calculator and spell-checkers has made many of us completely unable to do simple calculations in our heads or write a comprehensive letter, so too has Google has robbed us of our ability to individually grow.

As technology increases, and it will continue to increase, I predict that our children will become quicker, faster, and more faceted thinkers who will seek answers more and more from outside of themselves.

While this breeds a type of entrepreneurial spirit, or leader/director mindset… someone has to build the giant robots or write the program that will analyze the data for you.

Too many chefs spoil the stew, and a kitchen staff without a head chef runs around directionless.

Can we achieve a balance in our society? 

I believe we can, through activities which teach our children how to grow, persevere, and to understand the fundamental concept that how they do anything, is how they do everything.

As the head instructor of Shinka Martial Arts, I’ve had the opportunity to observe a few generations of students.  All the way from the enthusiastic 4 year old students, to the introspective 76 year olds, to the determined 50 year olds to the ambitious 20 year olds - there are mental and cognitive trends that are easily identifiable.

Like the rings of a tree, we can see different methods of communication and thought processes in the various generations.  Some prefer a story format to assimilate information, while others want the bullet points.  Some of us were taught that information takes time to learn and master, and enjoy the process, while others were taught through the reward-system of video games, and focus more upon the levelling up than we do the playing of the game itself.

Neither thought process is inherently wrong, but I would point out that if one focuses upon the joy of the journey one gets hours of enjoyment, while if one focuses on the joy of the destination, one only gets a brief second of success after a few hours wait.

An activity like martial arts helps students of all ages surpass who it is they are.  That is, it helps them grow to meet their challenges, rather than to seek answers from outside of themselves.

While leveraging talents and information is an exceptional life skill, ultimately it means very little if it is all leveraged from an unworthy source. 

Something like martial arts helps people surpass challenges, while still providing the video game like progress bar of the belt system.  It allows us to surpass mini-challenges, but there are no cheat codes, no walk-throughs and, ultimately, it is a single player game.

Learning to push ourselves is a learnable skill.  School teaches us to learn the skill of learning.  The internet teaches us the skill of leveraging.  Martial arts teaches us the skill of growth.

If all we learned was growth, we might become a poorly compensated technician.  If all we learned was leveraging we might become an inept CEO.  If all we learned was learning we might become a teacher or a scholar.

But together, there is a synergy.  Ask yourself what could stop a constantly growing, constantly learning, highly skilled, physically powerful & vibrant individual?