Blog U.: Is TED Making Us Stupid? - Technology and Learning - Inside Higher Ed

Blog U.: Is TED Making Us Stupid? - Technology and Learning - Inside Higher Ed

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  Is TED Making Us Stupid?

  By Joshua Kim May 16, 2010 9:02 pm
  
  I'm not trying to pay homage to Nicholas Carr and his new book The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains. I don't think I'll read Carr's new book, as the article that it grows out of -- "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" -- sort of annoyed me.
  This past week I had the depressing revelation that TED has ruined me.
  Ruined me for talks or presentations where the speaker:
  -- Reads from a typed sheet without making (at least) intermittent eye contact with the audience.
  -- Fails to use a slide deck to share images or symbols that propel the narrative.
  -- Takes 40 minutes to say something that could have been said in 18.
  -- Has not taken the time to practice and rehearse the talk.
  -- Does not have something to say that is original, passionate, or particularly smart.
  Pre-TED, I used to be able to sit through a boring lecture or presentation - diligently taking notes while being sufficiently nourished by whatever small sliver of new insights or information the speaker could provide. I had patience, fortitude, and a long-attention span for the bad presentation. TED has extinguished this valuable skill.
  It is not only the example that TED provides on the right way to give a public presentation.