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DEBATE CLUB!
Chatterbox: Inkwell
DEBATE CLUB!
DEBATE CLUB!
Since there were some issues with my first thread on this, I'm starting over with this new one!
Okay, so here are the rules:
1. Respect the other side, even though you disagree.
2. No judging, please.
3. Feel free to suggest ideas!
4. Always ask for permission before doing anything that I might not be okay with.
5. There is no sign-up deadline. Even if we're already starting, you can jump in. Just make sure you clarify your position.
The first topic will be reading vs. writing.
Here is a list of people who already signed up, and where they stand.
Ellie - undecided
Pete the Trollslayer - undecided
Bookbug - reading
Forrest - undecided
True - writing
J.B.E. - undecided
Phantom of the Opera - undecided
Danielle P. - undecided
Corina - undecided
S.E. - undecided
SAVVY44x - undecided
pin name - reading
Nora the Singer (me) - writing
So, if you haven't joined or you see the word "undecided" next to your name, comment below! Reading or writing? May the best team win!
submitted by Nora the Singer
(August 19, 2014 - 6:02 pm)
(August 19, 2014 - 6:02 pm)
toop.
spambox actualy says "mkay!" omgg, thats so cool
(September 23, 2014 - 6:51 pm)
Great point, Top!!!!!!!
Also, Nora, why does it matter that we created these? Humans created viruses. Humans created gossip websites. Just because we made them doesn't mean they're wonderful.
(September 24, 2014 - 2:26 pm)
I never said it made them wonderful, I simply stated the fact that we have the right to use what we created. =)
(September 24, 2014 - 5:54 pm)
Smartphones make us lose the ability to find out things for ourselves. Instead of figuring out the answer to something, the answer is given to you at the touch of a button. This dumbs us down.
(September 25, 2014 - 12:19 pm)
Sure, books are a part of our history. But you know what else is? Horses. Typewriters. Y'know what they were replaced by? Cars. Word Processers. We can still read books, but smartphones are quickly becoming a popular alternative. You've got to accept the fact that human life is constantly evolving, and if we stay rooted firmly in one age, in the case the age of the printed word, it could upset the evolutionary ladder. I say it's time to move on! You can still read printed books. People still ride horses and use typewriters. I'm not saying smartphones are going to replace books completely, but history, like it or not, isn't a thing we can stop from constantly happening.
(September 25, 2014 - 3:19 pm)
Just because the world is moving on and starting to use things like smartphones doesn't make it okay. What if becomes something major, like where botos start doing everything for us? Does that make it okay, just because we're "moving on", it's still bad for us.
(September 25, 2014 - 5:33 pm)
But once we get past all that "mobile games and social media stuff is bad", which seems to be your only defense, what exactly do you hate about smart phones? The whole "smart phones turn us into idiots" thing is a myth, probably invented by parents so their kids wouldn't overuse them. Be honest. When did you see a person's IQ drop significantly after buying a smart phone? Pretty much never, that's when. Sure, there are people who are addicted to mobile games, but every technological advancement, including the one you're using right now, has people who can't stop using it. Smart phones can be great, useful tools if you use them the right way. It's an inescapable fact. There are people who use smart phones wisely, and people who abuse them, and picking on only the latter doesn't make your argument any stronger.
So at the end of the day, it's our choice whether smart phones are bad for us or not.
That is my final contribution to this particular debate. Good day.
(September 25, 2014 - 7:39 pm)
All I'll say is, a person's cerebral activity when using a smartphone is (scientific study) the same as when sleeping and not dreaming. Who doesn't have games and purely entertainment apps on there phone? To throw your words back at you, pretty much no one, that's who. Studies have also shown that a person's IQ can drop significantly while playing games.
So sure, it's our choice whether we use them for bad or good, but I don't really know a kid who's going to see flappy bird and think, "I'll read the Iliad on this phone instead!" You may be an exception, but really.
WELL, that's MY contribution. GOOD DAY!
Mewmew says oakk! Why do you want oak, Mewmew?
(September 25, 2014 - 8:07 pm)
It doesn't dumb us up, technically, but it takes up time that could be used for learning things.
(September 25, 2014 - 9:04 pm)
Okay, I guess you're right. It doesn't dumb us down. But it does distract us from what's going on around us. You go anywhere, and you'll see a bunch of people hunched over their phones, texting away. It prevents us from socializing properly and appreciating the real world.
(September 26, 2014 - 3:14 pm)
I will say that I agree with both points: iPhones, ect. ect. can be good, but they can also be bad. My perspective is that iPhones should not be are friends, and family. There are people today who will text there mom who is upstairs getting laundry done, and text her that they need a shirt washed, or whatever, instead of wlking upstiars, to the laundry room, and telling her that you need whatever, and even maybe helping her wash the clothes. My point is that) We should not be having relationships with or through our iPhones. We should be having relationships with people, face to face, Not screen to screen.
(September 26, 2014 - 9:47 am)
I'm sorry we had a busy day yesterday, and I noticed I spelled some words wrong.
(September 27, 2014 - 10:16 am)
Er... I sort of agree with both points a little? I feel like if books became "extinct" that would obviously be sad, but I also feel that nobody would realistically allow that to happen.
But denying all technology seems a little, well, it gives off an air of pretentiousness. The Chatterbox is built on online friendships, right? And obviously online friendships shouldn't ideally be the only friendships you form, that doesn't make them invalid.
Two years ago, my best friend moved to France for six months. And yes, we kept in contact. Through, yes, technology. Through the tools so many people insist on demonizing, we maintained and strengthened a friendship that remained to this day.
Smartphones are, like many have said, a tool. They're not inherently evil or good - they can distract some from real life, sure, but they don't have to. And just because you play games that are pretty much pointless, or text your friends, or something, doesn't mean your brain cells are automatically going away.
They're not "replacing books". For some people, yes, people who like to travel and people who maybe can't afford hard copies or don't have a lot of space. And that's great! Reading books the official way, with the feel of the pages in your hands and all that, that's great too! The words remain the same, don't they - and that's what matters in the end!
Through history, so many have tried to burn books, to take away the words that gave so much to the world. And what these people don't understand - what people who think smartphones are killing books also seem to have trouble with - is that words do not rely on where they are contained. They have power, just as much on a screen as on paper (though yes, I do like hard-copy books) and if you believe that power, not much can take it away.
~~~
That was a long, long tangent. What on earth happened to that shouty ten-year-old who couldn't grasp the usage of the exclamation point and made a career out of topping the Dragon RP?
The captcha contributes with 'uaem'. I don't think I ate my past self, because that would be impossible on several levels and also cannibalism.
(September 28, 2014 - 11:21 am)
That's pretty much exactly what I think!
(September 28, 2014 - 9:52 pm)
It's fine if you guys want to quit on this club. I really like it, but no one posts. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but I guess people have different interests than me. Not everyone likes debating. I'm sorry.
(October 7, 2014 - 7:49 pm)