It really is a SMALL WORLD!

When I was young, Europe, Africa and even Alaska were so very far away from my place in the "burbs" of Chicago. We learned about the "Wide World" from bits and pieces on the news at night or in the newspapers. Encyclopedias were important as well as the library to seek out countries in South America, info about the Arctic and even about New York or Washington DC. Now at the flick of a button we can really experience all of these pieces of the world via the Internet. I wonder now how it is for school children to really learn about the mysteries of these countries and places when it is so "easy" to "check it out". No more mystery and excitement of discovery, "just Google" it and there it is. Can you imagine what our world would have been like if Christopher Columbus "just Googled" our continent. Or the Pilgrims "just googled" the new world and decided "not for us". Part of the experience of learning for me, was always the search for the right information for the project I was working on, and I learned so much more with this way of searching versus "googling", because along the way different paths of information were there for my learning and discovery. Now children "google" and find ONLY the info they need, how sad.....and now yes, I do believe that it will be for them "a small world" because with the Internet, exact information is stored right there, and it can be limited to just what you want to know, no extra avenues or paths to experience and learn about [unless you "google" more], how sad for students these days and so very easy and small. Yes it is a "small world" don't you agree?