What if we all are really really wrong?

According to a new paper, using paper and pencil to solve problems creates faster and more creative solutions.

Dutch psychologist Christof van Nimwegen recently completed a  Ph.D dissertation that seems to come to this very conclusion.

In his work "The Paradox of the Guided User: Assistance can be Counter- Effective, van Nimwegen gave tasks to complete to two groups, one with just pencil and paper and the other group with computers.

In every instance, the groups with the simple tools were quicker to solve the problem and more creative in their answers.

van Nimwegen says that the problem is not with the paper and pencil, but with computer software that simplifies tasks to such an extent that the need to be creative is removed from the process. The creativity, essentially, is already built into the software.

From the article:

"Present-day software must be user-friendly. Indeed, train ticket machines at railway stations should be simple and provide us with a ticket quickly," van Nimwegen told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

"But in other situations, I think we should not be assisted as much as graphic software interfaces like Microsoft Windows or Apple OSX are doing today," he added.

Like many of the “instructional technology” solutions that we see being introduced into schools all over the country,  he says that computer software has turned users into passive recievers, instead of active contributors.

As part of the study, the psychologist turned off the computers for the group using them. the results were suprprising:

"The group that used a computer throughout, felt lost instantly and immediately performed badly when completing the task. The second group, who has used only pen and pencil, simply carried on with its work."

He says that perhaps the study results show that the old ways, books, paper, pencil should not be abandoned so fast in order to move into the digital age, but rather to take them with us on the journey.

"Listening to someone is the best guarantee to absorb information and store it permanently in one's memory," van Nimwegen says.

Most of us probably will have some basic unwritten understanding that software that makes us think less could probably dumb us down, just like watching Jerry Springer probably is not as helpful as watching a NOVA.

He uses the example of the GPS systems that can map out the best way to get from point A to B in a matter of seconds, but reduces the users to a passive role on the trip planning process, only inputting destination points and listening to something else tell us how to get there, blindly trusting the machine.

Does van Nimwegen see the human race becoming like the humans that inhabited the space station in Wall-E: blobs of protoplasm that essentially were enslaved to robots that did all of their bidding?  No, not really,

But he does think that education is a key area  where software can be created that makes students think creatively, instead of passively clicking away.

“"But," van Nimegen adds, "we now know that working on a problem ourselves is the key to absorbing information and storing it solidly in our brain."

(All quotes are from the cited article)

So of course, more questions than answers, but long time readers will note that I like to cite situations where people bash technology because it is often the beginning of conversations that we need to have.