CAS and TOK journal entry

For CAS class they combined it with the Theory of Knowledge. I choose technology as my topic since it connected with my CAS project, in which I had to answer a claim being made.

I had to examine the claim:

To what extent is the internet changing what it means to know something?

The internet has changed the way we learn, the things we believe, and even the ways we think. The internet has brought many positive aspects to our lives, but at the same time, it’s caused other side effects that aren’t necessarily great. An example of this can be sources that aren’t reliable and spread fake information, specifically TikTok, a social media entertainment app that is being used by over 1billion people around the world. This app gives the freedom to post a video that the creator wants as long as it follows the rules and guidelines, the video then travels to consumers’ “For You Page” which is the main TikTok feed where you’ll find many different videos from creators based on the videos you like and share. These videos might gain popularity depending on if it’s entertaining for the consumer, but a common problem that is seen on the app is the false spreading of information, which then might gain popularity and views which spreads it to other people. Then this creates a chain where people believe this information is true, and it just keeps spreading and spreading, which shows the extent to how the internet might change what we know. 

Another example of how the internet might have an impact on our knowledge is how much we begin relying on the internet as one of our main resources to find information. This can be seen in the past two decades itself as it’s the timeframe of when the internet bloomed. The world has shifted from people gaining information/knowledge from others and learning from experts to people nowadays only being one google search away from knowing something. The internet has changed the methods for learning and at the same time has also connected people together more. An example of this can be seen through the use of Zoom and how it gained popularity from COVID-19, it’s now being used for communication with people from different parts of the world, and has been used as a way of learning through classes people host and attend.

Generally speaking, the internet has changed our behavior and methods of gaining information, it’s caused a lot more people to be independent and research information on their own now that certain tools like the internet are by our side.