Does YWS make you dumb?

A new study has come out essentially saying that the Internet and smartphones and digital multimedia is making people dumb:
http://www.myfoxny.com/story/22265626/s ... ltitasking

Do you agree? Does YWS, Facebook, Tumblr, make you dumb?

Not at all! If anything at all YWS increases our mental and creative intelligence. It also makes us strive to be better and better our writing in a healthy way. In short it's probably the best site on the internet for writers under 18 (arguably writers in general no matter the age).

Facebook makes you dumb in some capacities because more likely than not you're going to be exposed to some STUPID people on Facebook.

Tumblr can go either way. It's a free for all over there.

Hm. The truth is that it depends on how we use things and how we let all this technology affect us. Everything can work for good or for bad, but that's up to us. For example, people who have been on Tumblr know that they can find posts there that don't contribute something positive into society; however, we cannot say that we can't find things that aren't intellectually stimulating there. The question is, what kind of blogs do people often follow?

I suppose the real problem here is how all these things distract us and encourages us to multitask and procrastinate. The thing is that (I'm generalizing, of course) people no longer care about memorizing things or getting lost in their own thoughts because Google is there to make life easier. "You don't have to know it all; you just have to know where to find it. " I guess we can say that people no longer take the time to think for themselves in a critical way because there are so many things that can be done instead! (Especially on the Internet, lol).

Our short-term memory can only store between five and nine things at once, and the only way to get them to the long-term memory is through rehearse; if that doesn't happen, it is unlikely that we will remember whatever it is we searched for. When we're too busy pretending we're doing schoolwork, while scrolling down on Tumblr, while being on the phone with someone, and listening to IM bar on Facebook, we usually simply close the tab that could have helped us understand or discover something incredible about life. In other words, multitasking makes it harder for us to remember and understand the more complex things.

So. Back to the question! Does YWS make you dumb? Again, it depends on how we use it. I can say that YWS has helped me in more than one way. The truth is that this website is the reason why I can write and actually communicate in English. It has helped me figure out what I want to do in the future from more than one perspective. And it has taught me how to think critically, to love perspectives, facts, and relativity, and to know that where there is a brain (and discipline), there is potential. I can say, shamelessly, that the most intellectual and thought-provocative conversations that I've had in my entire life haven't been with the people I've conversed with in real life; they have been with YWSers. Mainly, because we're up to discuss or debate about the strange questions that pop into our minds.

It does not make you dumb but it does make you want to be more and more on it and ignore other things.

YWS has been the greatest supplement to my education (granted my education is literature and creative writing). Tumblr, on the other hand...

I dont think so. The important thing is how you spend your internet time. If you spend it on a website which teaches you how to write, then you're going to see an improvement to your intelligence. If you only use it to stare at cats or naked ladies well then not so much.