by Bob Lloyd

Created on: January 06, 2010

Our minds grow to the extent that we interact with the world and other people, and expose ourselves to new ideas, things, and events.  For previous generations, it took a lot of time and money to be able to undertake the Grand Tour, to visit far off places and experience different cultures.  It took monied leisure to be able to study and learn.  For those needing to earn a living, leisure time was scarce and so was money.  The opportunity to expand one's mind was rare.

Although technology lessened the physical burdens of productive activity, until recently only a small sector of society had the opportunity to engage in activities that broadened their minds.  That changed fundamentally with the growth of information technology.  Although the media such as print, radio and television improved the communication of ideas, it was distinctly one way, with little or no opportunity for involvement.  People simply received whatever was broadcast.

But in recent years with the advent of the internet, knowledge has been democratised and it is now possible to be well-informed about any subject you choose without having to spend time and money on a course of study.  Access to news from any country in any language is available at a click, and news aggregators allow us to follow stories with little or no effort.  We can study any subject through the online availability of educational resources, and we can make use of the experience of millions of others in informing ourselves at a time convenient to us.

But more than ever, the internet encourages involvement and participation in the process of forming our own minds and personalities.  Like never before, we can encounter a wide range of opinions and beliefs, cultures and backgrounds from all over the world.  We can test opinion, examine our own attitudes and beliefs, engage with and listen to others who would otherwise have been invisible to us.  And we can make our own views heard giving us an unprecedented opportunity to express ourselves through a variety of media.

In the isolation of our own communities, whether on the scale of village or country, we can often settle for accepted prejudices without ever challenging those ideas.  We have a comfortable mental space in which to live and we tend to avoid challenges to our values.  But by interacting, we open our minds to new ideas which will not be available in our community.  We can understand the views

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