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I'd say 9/10 times when someone looks something up that we wouldn't have gone out of our way to find out, that info is instantly lost anyway. I'm way more likely to remember something if I have to go hunt down the info, either at a library or something really obscure that takes work to find online

the best part about that is that everyone would start discussing the actual answer for dozens of minutes, without reaching any conclusion or the one that looks more fun

It boggles my mind how younger people think we lived in some kind of dark-age before google.

Not only did books exist, but they could give you an in-depth answer that could be trusted.

And yes, when the internet was made public, I loved being able to find answers more quickly, but I didn't just walk around with empty space between my ears

If anything, I feel like people are more gullible and believe more falsehoods than they did when I was a teen

(That said... there is plenty of information that's been updated, and plenty of stupid shit that went around- like the falsehood that we only have five senses, or that we only use 10% of our brains)

You just caused my to cackle 'heeheeheehee' like a mad scientist's demented servant so thanks for that!

Aunt Marge was right!

Encyclopedias exited, and if you wanted to know the population of Greece they were perfect. But, they were terrible for answering random questions like "Why is the sky blue?" The answer was almost certainly in the encyclopedia, but you'd have to know to look up "Raleigh Scattering", and how would you know that?

What makes modern web searching so good is that it's amazing at surfacing answers to just about any question. Whether the answer it brings up is true is another matter...

Teacher should have shown you how a number line extends forever in both directions (no reason to think she should have known about imaginary numbers making it extend orthogonally as well)

Yep. I was in elementary school in the 80s, so, of course, all of their encyclopedias were from the early 70s and had all kinds of out-of-date information.

Wikipedia may be untrustworthy at times, but at least they try to keep things up to date if there's a major change- like a country no longer exists- the encyclopedias and our globe both showed Vietnam as a divided country.

My neighbor mentioned at the bus stop that grape ice cream is not found because it's illegal due to its toxicity to dogs.

He's a resident doctor.....

I'm in Indiana and have a 13-year-old daughter. You'd be surprised how much misinformation is taught in public schools now. Not just the abstinence-only sex education bullshit and the same old lies about drugs, but just getting basic history wrong because that history makes America look bad. I do my best to educate her on all of these and other subjects where school has failed her, but I have no experience in pedagogy, so it's an uphill battle.

She did enjoy coming home every day to tell me new lies the anti-drug program in her health class told her so I would correct them.

I stopped to think about this for a second and I am not surprised.

Opinions seem to vary, but Scientific American is credible enough, right? https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/is-glass-really-a-liquid/

Is...that not true?

Yeah I feel like the only difference is now you can find a dozen Marges all copying the same "facts"

I mean, some houses had encyclopedias before this as well. The problem with those is they got outdated quickly for anything current and near past and were expensive. Occasionally, a big archaeology find could shake up a section as well.

It's very different today. People have learned to get rich selling misinformation to morons. At least you knew Aunt Marge probably didn't have a complete understanding of whatever she was telling you.

The internet is like having hundreds or more relatives, not just the one aunt giving you the single viewpoint, and some of those relatives can explain their points better or have actual evidence to convince, unlike Marge who just says she wouldn't lie to you. Which ones are right? It's up to you in how you determine that. Maybe some are so trustworthy in past subjects that you can take what they say at face value. Maybe it's a matter of how many agree, or what you hear from them when they argue with each other. None of them may be right...you might have to form your own opinion.