The words of President Obama to the students of Hampton University.
In a commencement speech Sunday, he warned them about the superficialities that are engendered by gadgets. “With iPods and iPads and Xboxes and PlayStations–none of which I know how to work–information becomes a distraction, a diversion, a form of entertainment, rather than a tool of empowerment, rather than the means of emancipation,” he told his audience, according to the AFP.
“You’re coming of age in a 24/7 media environment that bombards us with all kinds of content and exposes us to all kinds of arguments, some of which don’t always rank all that high on the truth meter,” he reportedly said. The concern, he added, is that such a proliferation of dubious information is “putting new pressures on our country and our democracy.”
It’s hard not to sympathize with his sentiment. Instant access to instantly concocted information does put additional pressure on everyone’s critical faculties. Yet it also allows people better access to opposing points of view, to opportunities of verification, to asking their fellow humans for help and guidance.