The Power of Curiosity
A curious mind is a questioning mind – and these days this is an important skill to have as you learn to think more critically, solve problems and develop an innovative spirit.
Astrophysicist and author Mario Livio was so curious about curiosity that he wrote a book about it. He recently appeared on the Knowledge@Wharton show on SiriusXM channel 111 to talk about what he learned in the course of writing his book, Why? What Makes Us Curious. You can access the full podcast and transcript here.
Excerpts from an edited transcript of the conversation follow.
Knowledge@Wharton: What is it that really drives our curiosity?
Mario Livio: Curiosity has several kinds or flavors, and they are not driven by the same things. There is something that has been dubbed perceptual curiosity. That’s the curiosity we feel when something surprises us or when something doesn’t quite agree with what we know or think we know. That is felt as an unpleasant state, as an adversity state. It’s a bit like an itch that we need to scratch. That’s why we try to find out the information in order to relieve that type of curiosity.
On the other hand, there is something that has been dubbed epistemic curiosity, which is a pleasurable state associated with an anticipation of reward. That’s our level of knowledge. That’s what drives all scientific research. It drives many artworks. It drives education and things like that. There is also something that has been dubbed diversive curiosity. That’s the thing when you see young people constantly on their smartphone, looking for text messages to ward off boredom, I think.
Knowledge@Wharton: Is there an element of curiosity that is enhanced by living in the digital age?
Livio: There are some people who have the feeling that because we have information literally at our fingertips, maybe we’re becoming less curious. But that’s not true. There are two things to remember. One is that when we do scientific research, we try to find answers to questions where we don’t know the answers yet. Therefore, you cannot find those answers on the internet or Wikipedia.
The other thing is that what the internet allows us to do is to satisfy what has been dubbed specific curiosity, namely you want to know a very particular detail. Who wrote this or that book? What was the name of the actor in that film? The digital age allows you to find the answer very quickly. That’s actually good because you don’t want to spend all your time trying to answer a question like that. I don’t know how you feel, but I sometimes can be really obsessed by not knowing the answer to something very, very simple like that.
Knowledge@Wharton: That’s almost a natural component of who we are. There are times when we become obsessed with wanting to know what that information is.
Livio: That’s right. In that sense, the digital age helps us because we can find that information, and that may drive us to look for something else about this. And that would drive perhaps epistemic curiosity, which is this love of knowledge and wanting to learn new things.
Knowledge@Wharton: Do you think love of knowledge is truly the driving force behind curiosity and the other pieces are part of the spider web off the core?
Livio: Not necessarily. There have been all kinds of experiments in neuroscience with functional MRI, where they make people curious then put them in these MRI machines and see which parts of their brains are activated. It was found that this perceptual curiosity, the one when you’re surprised or find something unexpected, is associated with activations of the parts in our brain that usually work in conflict or when you’re hungry or thirsty. On the other hand, the parts that are associated with learning new things really activate the parts that are associated with anticipation of reward, like when somebody’s offering you a piece of chocolate or when you sit in a theater and you’re waiting for the curtain to go up.
Knowledge@Wharton: When you think historically, there have been world leaders who have wanted to snuff out curiosity. I’m thinking particularly of Fidel Castro. Some people would say President Trump is trying to do that. Have you seen that as a component in the world?
Livio: Of course. We all know about the Middle Ages, the medieval times when curiosity was almost taken out of existence. It was mostly the church that wanted to convey to the masses the feeling that everything worth knowing is already known. They built walls around all types of knowledge and really oppressed curiosity in this way.
You mentioned a few leaders, but it’s not just leaders. The Taliban destroyed works of art. ISIS is destroying works of art in Palmyra, in Syria. There have been book burnings over the years. The Nazis made a degenerate art exhibit where they tried to deface all the modern painters. There definitely have been oppressive regimes and ideologies that try to stifle curiosity.
Knowledge@Wharton: I think there are people who are naturally curious. It almost is ingrained in their personality as they come into the world. Is that the case?
Livio: Of course. Most psychological traits, and curiosity is no exception, have a genetic component to them. The fact that some people are much more curious than others largely has to do with their genetics. But, as in all cases, genetics is never the whole story. In the same way as the nature versus nurture question, the two of them play a role. You can enhance curiosity by doing certain things, by asking questions, by encouraging people to be curious about things. Or you can suppress curiosity as we just noted, sometimes by regime, sometimes by ideologies, and so on.
People have something in them that they are born with, but the environment can help or be against enhancing this curiosity. Just to give an example, if you are the children of refugees that have to cross countries and look for food all the time, you may be curious about where do you find your next meal and not about contemplating the meaning of life.
Knowledge@Wharton: With all of the innovation that goes on right now, it feels like we’re constantly looking to improve so many aspects of our lives. Is it fair to say that curiosity is one of the things that might be hard to improve?
Livio: No. I don’t think it is hard to improve. You cannot change your genetic makeup, but through the education system you can actually improve on curiosity. I’ll give you a very simple example. If you teach science to young children, don’t start by trying to teach them things that they may not be interested in. Start with something they’re already curious about, like dinosaurs. Start with dinosaurs and then find interesting ways to connect from that to other concepts you would like them to learn, rather than starting from the beginning with something they may not be interested in. Most people know that very young children are extremely curious. They constantly ask questions. That’s largely because they especially want to understand cause and effect. They want to understand how the world around them is functioning so that they make fewer errors.
Some people think that as we grow up we lose our curiosity, and that’s not entirely true. We do lose some elements of diversive curiosity or the ability to be surprised. But actually epistemic curiosity, that love of knowledge, appears to be roughly constant across all ages.
Knowledge@Wharton: Are kids more curious than adults?
Livio: Kids are more curious in terms of diversive than perceptual curiosity. But I think in terms of epistemic curiosity, adults are as curious. This probably all started for survival. We needed to understand very well our environment in order to be able to survive, so there was an evolutionary pressure to this. But somehow humans are always more curious than just for mere survival. I’m an astrophysicist. What we study in science will probably become applicable at one point, but it is not applicable at the moment. We’re still very curious about this because we want to understand everything around us.
Related Links
- Curiosity.com
- USA Today: What Makes Us Curious?
- New York Times: What Makes Us Curious
- Psychology Today: 7 Ways to Be More Curious
- More on Mario Livio
Conversation Starters
How does the internet affect our curiosity? Does it help or hinder it?
As a teenager, how would you define diversive curiosity? What drives you to the screen of your smart phone and keeps you coming back? How would you characterize this type of curiosity?
Are you a curious person? What inspires your curiosity? How do you satisfy your curiosity? Discuss the topic of curiosity in a group or with a partner. Work on asking thoughtful questions.
Nowadays, technology is the driving force of almost everything. How did we get so technologically advanced? Through innovation and curiosity.In regards towards curiosity, I do consider myself a curious person. Curiosity drives society towards innovation and progress. I am curious because one day I want to transform the world with a new idea, and for that to happen we must have curiosity. Everyone is curious at some point in their lives, but what is most important is how we continue to spread curiosity, that is how we learn from the past to improve upon it.
I feel that you are right. We’ve all experienced curiosity at one point. That seems to be how we grow as people. That’s how we create new things, giving us new ideas. We wonder what something might be like, so we go out and do or find it. Curiosity seems to push us along. Keeps us on our toes. We need it in order to grow and gain more knowledge.
I agree that curiosity is a driving force in the innovation in today’s society. Even though i agree curiosity can be your down fall as well. This is because even though curiosity is a good thing it can get you into a bad situation. Like the adage says curiosity killed the cat.
I think that the more society relies on the Internet, the less we can think for ourselves. While it is true that technology provides us with a wealth of information, it really depends on who uses that information for it to be useful. Curiosity, by definition, is the strong desire to learn something. While the Internet does allow for curiosity to be quenched, one must be careful when using online sources of information to learn. The best methods of education are person-to-person, where the true basis for curiosity, the ability to question and learn by experience, is presented to students. When so much electronic information is presented to individuals who are oblivious to phenomena like fake news and herd mentality that stem from online information, people’s thoughts become based on the views of people on the internet. Like the article states, the Internet can be beneficial for understanding facts, like the author of a particular book or the causes of global warming. However, what the Internet cannot do is think for people: sadly, some individuals rely heavily on the Internet for this very activity, and are shaped by the thoughts of people online. They spend less time using online information to come to their own conclusions on issues, subjecting them to herd mentality. In this way, technology negatively impacts curiosity. Though the means of understanding is at our fingertips, the Internet is just as pliable in manipulating thoughts adversely.
Really thought-provoking content, Dhiya!
You are right. Technology basically runs this world. I consider myself a curious person. Curiosity ultimately makes this world create new stuff. That’s why it’s critical. Everyone has their curious moments. It is important to spread curiosity.
I argue that the internet has greatly enhanced our sense of curiosity and allows the thirst of knowledge to somewhat quench. Despite there being several types of curiosities, all can be attended to thanks to the internet and its wealth of knowledge. As for diversive curiosity, I don’t think I could even call it curiosity. The way the article explains it as searching your phone to “ward off boredom” doesn’t bring the concept of curiosity I think about. To me curiosity is going out of your way to answer any question regardless of how specific or unpleasant it may be. I am a curious person, my inspiration comes from the want to understand. Obviously, it is only quenched when I find answers or come to a conclusion.
Let me start with a simple personal experience-
“ We all watch YouTube videos. Before most videos, there is an advertisement which we can skip after the first few seconds- and that is exactly what we usually do. I am no exception.
However there was this one ad, where the host was constantly telling the users to skip the ad and not watch it, in between promoting the product.
And quite astonishingly, that was the only advertisement that I ended up watching to the end.”
In light of this experience, a question springs to the mind of most people-
“Why does an ad that asks its viewers to not watch it, gets watched even more?”
Actually, the makers of the ad very smartly exploited an intrinsic human trait- Curiosity. Whenever a person is forbidden to do something without much reason, his curious nature always takes him there. This trait has been part of human nature from as early as Adam and Eve.
Curiosity and rebelliousness is in fact one of the inherent qualities of humans and Behavioural Economics is studying how these impact our decision making process. Marketing enterprises are trying to harness this virtue. A case in point is the example stated above.
The Internet is one of the greatest sources of knowledge. There is no denying that. But does it always provide impetus to curiosity? I don’t think so.
Very often the Internet trumps the ‘journey’ in favour of the ‘destination.’ We must realise that there is a elevated sense of satisfaction, fulfilment and learning in actively working towards fulfilling one’s curiosity than simply accessing that information by the click of a button.
Processes like asking other people, searching Encyclopedia, scourging the library etc are losing their charm.
Now, how much truth is there in the adage-
“ Curiosity kills the cat.”
Before answering that question, let us understand a simple analogy-
“Say for instance that Bob in his wrath uses a knife to hurt someone.
Is it the fault of the knife?
Or is it Bob’s fault for having misused the knife?”
In the very same way if someone carries out a notorious act under the garb of curiosity, is the fault of curiosity as a virtue, or the fault of the person who has misused or misrepresented the power of curiosity.
Curiosity is simply one of the greatest incentivisers of expansion of human knowledge. It is one of those qualities that distinguishes us from other species of the world.
We must endeavour to instil this wonderful quality in as many youngsters as possible. History is testament to the fact that an overdose of curiosity has elevated several men to a different pedestal. The list includes the likes of Albert Einstein, Steve Jobs and Walter Disney.
To sum it up-
“ Curiosity may kill the cat, but, it definitely saves the man.”
Please feel free to share your thoughts on these notions!
Technology and the internet as well as social media make up an enormous part of the 21st century teenagers’ brain. There is an almost unlimited amount of information out there that can contribute but also negatively affect the lives the younger population. Curiosity, is a big factor that accounts for what the teenagers of America, and all over the word, read, watch, and listen to. However, this curiosity can lead to the spread of ideas that could affect the perspective of human moral in a negative way. The mixture of the internet and teenager’s curiosity can be just as beneficial as it can be dangerous. It is up to the person and user to use the internet and the tool that their curiosity is, responsibly.
i feel the same way about this topic. Technology controls people lives. Teens are always on there phone using social media to talk to friends and browse the web. its a bad things because kids believe everything they read on the internet. People believe anything and everything they see on the internet, and if they are curious about something they will just go google it and believe the first source they read.
Technology is important to this decade. People have phones, computers, and all kinds of other devices by there finger tips. Curiosity isn’t a bad thing. Without it we may not know what is going on around the world. but, too much curiosity is bad. Like an old saying, curiosity killed the cat. Therefore, this is a difference between being curious, and being nosy. and I agree with what you are saying about how it is dangerous at times too. And by having these devices by our finger tips, we shouldn’t be not knowing what is going on around us.
I do agree with you Zara, you have pointed out similar thoughts that I would strongly agree with. Technology is what the world is revolving around making people who have not been in the us of technology to innovate the way things are to make sure it can fit into the technology era of the world today. I do not think that because of technology and how it has became a huge part in everyday lives that the people are less curious about things. I think it is the complete opposite because we have such a huge accessed on having our question answered by just typing the question and hitting search because of the unlimited resource of information. I do agree with you and Justin with the point of how having unlimited access to the internet could be dangerous because people have the tendency to look up a question and look at the first thing they see and just believe that just from the one link what the write of the article had stated they will believe it and will not do further research for their question.
I see your point of view, but the internet is not all negative things. Curiosity is the way people grow up. Those curiosities make them smarter but also more aware of situations in the world and helps younger populations prepare for them. Younger populations are more curios because they want to know more about the world because they haven’t experienced as much as older generations.
The internet affects our curiosity in a special way that some people don’t understand, so then arguments become developed. In my opinion, curiosity is everywhere on the internet. Just take a look at social media, people are CONSTANTLY wondering what is going on somewhere if it interests them. Look at a website called liveleak for example, they post videos of places around the world. Videos you wouldn’t typically find on the news or when you’re scrolling through facebook (unless you’re in the dark area). Curiosity is everywhere on the internet. No one actually wants to go to North Korea to see whats going on, of course we’d all love to see but none of us people would actually pay money to go to a warzone. In a way its similar to “professional” fighting. Connor McGregor vs Floyd Mayweather for example. The big fight cost money to watch and to actually see it in person, you had to shave off some money. The fight itself was in a controlled environment made specially for entertainment purposes. Of course many would find whats going on in North Korea entertaining but it’s not controlled, so the typical person would be too scared.
I don’t exactly know how I would define diversive curiosity. I think what brings me back to my phone is just the fact that I want to know whats going on. If I follow someone on twitter who I really like and I want to know their every tweet, I turn my twitter notifications on. So every time my phone goes off and I see a twitter notifications with their name under it, I’m curious as to what they have to say. This sort of situation applies to all social media sites. In a sense this type of curiosity is like stalking but some people have idols or people they look up to and just genuinely want to know what is going on in their life.
Of course I’m a curious person, how else do you think I got to this article? I was curious as to what this article was all about! My curiosity is is satisfied by simply doing research and finding out what is it I want to know. I’m a huge car fan, I love them all. If I’m curious as to how a 5.0 liter V8 24 valve supercharged engine runs when under heavy load such as running the air conditioning or having all my lights on, then I’ll hop on google and ask the million dollar question (YouTube works too).
Great insights, Dylan! I learned a lot thanks to your curiosity. Now I have a question for you. What kinds of car-related business, finance and/or entrepreneurship articles would you like to see on KWHS that would satisfy your curiosity? This is a topic we hope to write more about, and we would appreciate topic suggestions from someone who loves cars!
Nowadays, almost everything is accessible on the internet. We can now find answers to questions that we may have, or see other people’s opinions that are posted on the internet. I don’t think this necessarily hinder our curiosity. People today follow others on social media because they are curious about what’s going on in their lives.Some also purchase things from the internet because they are curious after seeing an ad. We are still curious about many things with the internet being a part of our lives.
I agree with you. Curiosity may be at an all time high, because we have the accessibility to everything. Our questions can be answered by typing into a search bar. All we could ever want to see is available to us at any given moment. Life was not always so. But it’s what we have now. And that’s awesome, because if you ever want to learn or know about anything in the world, you have the chance to do so.
I definitely agree with you. These days, we have the entire world and more at the push of a button. Every single day we use this ability of technology to let curiosity take over and allow us to learn more and more. With the internet, and really just technology as a whole, the only limit is our imagination and we all utilize that aspect in our daily lives. We have experts, websites, and even just normal people to give their opinion and facts on any subject we want.
The 21st Century in regards to technological advancements has been exponentially influential in the lives of billions across the world. Our answers are becoming more and more visible by the second. Curiosity has never been more of a topic than ever before. This particular article has given me some insight of how powerful being curious actually is. Since we have been attached to our smartphones, our laptops, ect. it makes more of us wonder what we a society can do if we embrace curiosity more.
Curiosity is a state of mind. It is different in every single person. It comes from different place. It is based on what we know and what we don’t know but want to know. Some said that curiosity comes from genetics, some said that it is a part of the cerebrum that produces this feeling. But the truth is that curiosity is the simple act and wish to know the unknown.
The age is another important point that makes people debate about the curiosity.Some people say with time we will be less curious, because we are more experient and have more knowledge. So we won’t be so curious to know more about the unknown. But it is not true, because doesn’t matter how old we are, or how experiment we are, we will always want to discover the undiscovered, we will always want to know the unknown.
The internet affects our curiosity in a special way that some people don’t understand, so then arguments become developed. In my opinion, curiosity is everywhere on the internet. Just take a look at social media, people are CONSTANTLY wondering what is going on somewhere if it interests them. Connor McGregor vs Floyd Mayweather for example. The big fight cost money to watch and to actually see it in person, you had to shave off some money. The fight itself was in a controlled environment made specially for entertainment purposes.
I don’t exactly know how I would define diversive curiosity. I think what brings me back to my phone is just the fact that I want to know whats going on. If I follow someone on twitter who I really like and I want to know their every tweet, I turn my twitter notifications on. So every time my phone goes off and I see a twitter notifications with their name under it, I’m curious as to what they have to say. This sort of situation applies to all social media sites. In a sense this type of curiosity is like stalking but some people have idols or people they look up to and just genuinely want to know what is going on in their life.
I’m a curious person, how else do you think I got to this article? I was curious as to what this article was all about! My curiosity is satisfied by simply finding out what is it I want to know. I’m a huge dance fan, I watch every So You Think You Can Dance episode you can think of. If I’m curious as to how someone does a backflip or a dance move , then I’ll hop on google and ask.
I think internet hinders our curiosity, although internet is so “open” to people, it gives whatever information they are curious about, we always want to know the unkwon so we will always go to the internet to look up. As teenager and personal experiences what I saw is that what drives teenagers everytime to our phones is the use of social media, everyone wants to know whats going around on their group of friends and stay connected to see viral things that is going “crazy” on social media, no one wants to stay out.
Diversisve curiosity I’d say is different types of curiosity each person has, everyone is curious about something different from others. I’m such a curious person but at many differente things, I use social media, tv, books to gain knowlegde and discover the unknown. I even choose this article because I was curious about what makes us so curious.
The Internet, in my opinion, helps our curiosity. The Internet is an easy source to find new information about various topics. The easy access aspect allows people to ask questions, and then take it to the Internet in order to answer their questions. In addition to this, new observations and conclusions are made about questions that are created in people’s minds.
As a teenager, I define diversive curiosity as a way to fill in time while being bored. The urge that leads me to the screen of my smart phone is what the people I am friends with are saying, and my conversations I am having. The urge that drives me to keep coming back is also the incoming news. I would characterize this type of curiosity as a way of filling in the important time of productiveness. In my opinion, diversive curiosity is a way of helping procrastination.
I do consider myself as a curious person, because I find myself wondering about different aspects in my life and feeling the need of answering my questions. There are multiple different aspects that inspires my curiosity. For example, I enjoy learning more about history. I often think about what the different kinds of governments in different time frames, and the effectiveness on them. I satisfy my curiosity by reading history books, and by looking up my questions on Google, and I would find a reliable source and I will be able to answer my questions there.
Nowadays since the internet is a huge part of lives in the U.S. it could be very likely our curiosity is affected by this. Technology can have an affect on our curiosity since we can see many articles that might interest us or new updates by scientists that we would want to further investigate. So this could very likely help our curiosity.
I find myself to be an extremely curious person. My curiosity stems mostly on my need for answers and to know how the world around me functions. I hate being in the dark or not understanding certain things. I love learning about topics or ideas i’m not 100% familiar with. When I feel especially curious about a certain thing, my first go-to is the internet. Nowadays, the internet gives lots of information about many many things. If not, I’ll simply ask others around me to help satisfy that curiosity.
Curiosity could also help educators, advertisers and storytellers find ways to help students or audiences better retain messages. Greater interest in a question would predict not only better memory for the answer but also for the unrelated face that had preceded it. When our curiosity is piqued, changes in the brain ready us to learn not only about the subject at hand, but incidental information, too.
I think that the internet positively affects our curiosity because it allows anyone to know the answer to their own question which sometimes requires specific details. This is essential because people can instantly quench their thirst for knowledge. As a teenager, I would define diversive curiosity as the constant urge to see or do something with the sole purpose of passing time and diverting one’s attention to something else. Boredom is what drives me to the screen of my smartphone. I would characterize this type of curiosity as the desire and urge to keep up with notifications and updates. Yes, I am a curious person and my curiosity stems from wanting to know particular information regarding global topics. I satisfy my curiosity through the means of technology.
Today, our world defines itself on its technology and its advancements. We’ve evolved even the most basic tasks to be technology oriented. Technology has become a source of increasing curiosity. The internet allows everyone to have all answers at their fingertips with a few clicks.
The internet itself is full of answers. From teenagers to grandparents, there is always something we’re interested in. Whether it is news or what our friends are doing, the internet supplies these answers. Twitter, instagram, and news sites fulfill our need to know what is going on and where immediately. This simplicity attracts people. While without it, people are pushed away from asking questions and finding out the answers due to the monotonous book reading or library searching needed to carry it out.
How does the internet affect our curiosity? Does it help or hinder it?
Internet both helps and hinders our curiosity. It helps it because in a way it gives kids, teens, and adults the ability to answer very simple questions and its helpful because kids in this generation will not like to look for a book and read it just to find a simple answer. So the access to internet helps them answer their questions faster and more efficient. On the other hand it hinders it because you sometimes have questions that are not in the internet so it just makes them stop looking for the answers since its the only way they find their answers.
As a teenager, how would you define diversive curiosity? What drives you to the screen of your smart phone and keeps you coming back? How would you characterize this type of curiosity?
I would define diverse curiosity as the drive that makes us explore new things. The reason why I always use my phone is that I like to be on social media looking at other people, friends, and family. I guess you can call that curiosity because my curiosity of what’s going on in the world is what makes me stay on my phone so much. I would characterized this curiosity as diverse because it is me trying to know new things or new people.
Are you a curious person? What inspires your curiosity? How do you satisfy your curiosity?
I consider myself a very curious person. What inspires my curiosity is the not knowing of what is happening around me. When I don’t know something I get curious and I won’t stop until I find out or understand. To satisfy my curiosity I keep looking until I find what I’m looking the answer to or what I’m looking for.
New technology, such as the Internet helps our curiosity as it enables us to quickly get answers to our questions. New technology itself can also lead to new questions such as how does this device work or how can this be improved.
I would define diversive curiosity as the want to constantly learn new information. An escape from boredom is what drives me to my smart phone. When I feel bored I constantly look at my phone in the hopes that something like a message will appear that will provide me with temporary entertainment. When people are bored they might look at there phones to learn something new to pass the time until something more interesting occurs.
At times I can be considered as a very curious person. The constant desire to learn new information is what inspires my curiosity. At times when I do not know the answer to something I feel the need to find the solution and figure out why it is the answer. I satisfy my curiosity by asking other people the questions that I do not know the answer to.
The world is run by technology nowadays, we got where we are today through curiosity. Curiosity inspires people to create new and improved technology. So, yes I do consider myself a curious person as I look towards positive change. Im driven by curiosity to find the better and know the unknown. As far as humans go back there has been curiosity that has lead us to the smartphones and flying machines we have today. The day people don’t have curiosity is the day where technology will no longer advance.
The internet heavily affects our curiosity. It helps people who constantly have questions get immediate answers. If anything, it encourages curiosity because when you search one thing for example on YouTube they provide a bunch of related videos that might lead to more questions. The internet also provides limitless information for one price that people already pay. Individuals do not have to go out to buy a newspaper and they do not have to buy another one to learn more information. The internet gives all the answers at your fingertips.
Diversive curiosity is being curious about more than one topic. My smartphone holds a lot of information and helps me accomplish things. For example, I’m constantly putting reminders and communicating with people. I always check my phone to see if someone needs something which keeps me coming back.
I’m a moderately curious person. I am inspired when I don’t know something that is important to me or I am wrong about something, this causes me to be curious. I watch YouTube videos that summarize the concept or what’s currently happening with that concept. In other words, research or talking to other people about it satisfies my curiosity.
Curiosity is a state of mind. It is different in every single person. It comes from different place. It is based on what we know and what we don’t know but want to know. Some said that curiosity comes from genetics, some said that it is a part of the cerebrum that produces this feeling. But the truth is that curiosity is the simple act and wish to know the unknown. New technology, such as the Internet helps our curiosity as it enables us to quickly get answers to our questions. New technology itself can also lead to new questions such as how does this device work or how can this be improved.
Curiosity is a strong desire to know or learn something. It is different for every person but for the most part, everyones curious about something. Technology nowadays, especially the internet, is a great resource to use to answer the questions that we have been asking. It can answer anything you are curious about and even create new questions or new topics to think about. Technology has a heavy impact on the world in a good way.
I think that I am a curious person. I’m actually very curious because i want to know about the things in the world. What inspires my curiosity is me wanting to learn new things and know more about the world.
The internet totally affects our curiosity. It helps to get information and answers. The internet provides limitless information. The people does not have to go out to buy a newspaper and they do not have to buy another one to learn more information. The internet gives all the answers by just using your fingertips and find website of news
Diversive curiosity is being curious about more than one topic. The smartphone holds a lot of information and it helps to accomplish things.. When I feel bored I constantly look at my phone in the hopes that something like a message will appear that will provide me with temporary entertainment. When people are bored they probably will look at there phones to learn something new to pass the time until something more interesting occurs.
I’m a curious person. I am inspired when I don’t know something that is important to me or if I am wrong about something, that makes me feel more curious. I satisfy my curiosity by asking other people the questions that I do not know the answer to sometimes.
The internet is a means in which we can quench the thirst of curiosity and it in no way hinders it. The internet can be easily accessed and it can help find answers to most question. It is strange to think about now, but it is curiosity that drives me to my phones screen. Whether I want to know who texted me or how much a soccer game is, it is almost always curiosity that drives me to pick up my phone. I would classify this as a dubbed epistemic curiosity because I like the satisfaction of knowing who texted me when I ear the little buzz. I am not generally a curious person but when something is nagging me I will go to great lengths to cease it. I never realized how much curiosity effects our lives until I read this article.
How does the internet affect our curiosity? Does it help or hinder it?
As an avid user of the internet and all things related to it, I have noted multiple mediums used to attract and affect the viewers’ curiosity.Two key visual effects the internet commonly uses to pique one’s interests are surprise and suspense. For example, images that reveal famous people doing something completely shocking catches us off guard and attracts our interest. That one picture leads us to research more about the picture with the purpose of attaining juicy details. This is a popular strategy used all over social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook. Additionally, in a photo gallery of related pictures found on some media sites, the first image listened tends to be suspenseful, leading the viewer to click the “next” button usually found below. There may be up to 50 pictures in a gallery, slowly added up the suspense and keeping the viewers glued to the screen. From these two examples, the internet most certainly helps our curiosity, usually because the website equally benefits from our curiosity whether it be through displaying ads or surveys that attract our attention while we surf the web.
I believe that the internet helps curiosity. If someone is curious about something, they can easily look it up online. They won’t have to do any excessive work to find the answer to a simple question. Sometimes, looking one thing up on the internet, can lead someone in a completely different direction that they weren’t expecting. They may find something else that will spark their curiosity that they weren’t planning on.
Question: How does the internet affect our curiosity? Does it help or hinder it?
Answer: The internet is probably one of our worlds biggest tools. It is our biggest resource for information and learning. People who know nothing about being a handy man, can learn how to change a flat tire with the support of the internet. But for some people it is not used in the same way. People now have a tool that’s just there for imperative situations, but never feel the need to be learning always. The internet has slowed down our desire for learning, or curiosity, primarily because we intake so much of it all day, everyday. I’m a strong believer that it hinders our curiosity because it gives a feeling of security that the information is there, and it is not going anywhere.
Technology and the internet as well as social media take up a lot of a teenager’s time, and make up a lot of their life. The amount of information that is available on the internet is so vast, but with that there comes negativity that can also effect the youth of this era. Curiosity, is a big factor that accounts for what the teenagers and young adults of all over the world, read, watch, and listen to. All this curiosity, desire to explore and find new things can lead to the dispersion of negative ideas that could effect ones common manners and ways of living. The mixture of the internet and teenager’s curiosity can be just as beneficial as it can be dangerous. It is up to the young adult to understand that the internet is a privilege, and their curiosity is a responsibility.
The internet helps curious people, because anything you don’t know you can search it up on google and it appears to you. Curiosity is different from everyone and sometimes it is a kind of pain because when you wanna know something you just stop trying to discover it when you know the answer. I describe myself as a curious person because everything that people talks about and I don’t know I either search on google or I ask them until I understand it, the only way I can satisfy my curiosity is by having an answer for what I am looking at.
Internet lets us satisfy our curiosity faster than any other system on the planet today. This doesn’t make us less curious, though, as a quick satisfaction leads us to be more curious, knowing that we don’t need to spend lots of time researching it.
I would define diversive curiosity as something that powers our will to learn new things. For example, when my friends text me something, I am always willing to unlock my phone to learn what he/she wrote. I would characterize my curiosity as my knowledge powerhouse.
Personally, I am a very curious person. Politics are what inspires my curiosity, so I satisfy it by researching the things I want to know about certain countries/ politicians.
The internet nowadays is something that some people can not live without. Maybe because the internet is their job, or they just want to stay connected all the time. No matter the reason they use the internet, it is a place that always teaches you something, even if you do not want to. For example, you are just surfing the web, and in the corner of the screen there can be an ad saying, How to cook a delicious cake. That sort of thing can activate your curiosity into cooking. I think that the internet helped people get more curious, since you can learn anything online.
The internet affects our curiosity in a way that it helps people find their answers faster, and it satisfies their curiosity faster as well. In my occasion,my social media drives back and forth to my phone screen. My biggest inspiration for curiosity is that there is always something new to learn, even if you thing you know everything about a topic, there is always, always something new.
How does the internet affect our curiosity? it helps answer questions you are curious about
Does it help or hinder it? it helps it because you can find the answers you need
As a teenager, how would you define diversive curiosity? everyone is curious about diffrent things because we are all diverse from one another
What drives you to the screen of your smart phone and keeps you coming back? the need of wanting to know something
How would you characterize this type of curiosity? normal curiosity
Are you a curious person? yes
What inspires your curiosity? not knowing things that other people do
How do you satisfy your curiosity? by asking questions
The internet affects our curiosity because It can gives us the answers to the things we are curious about in a matter of a second. It helps curiosity because people can be curious about anything and have the answers then go to another question instead of always asking the same thing without getting the answer. It can also be a started for something you didn’t really think about before. For example, you are on your phone and see something about dolphins. You may get curious about them and start investigating and getting more curious about them.
Diverse curiosity is something that drives us to want to learn about something. It usually drives people to make discoveries because they wonder how something works or why it happens and become curious about it. I personally am a curious person and always ask questions because I want to know how and why something happens. My curiosity comes from my desire to learn something new.
Curiosity is a state of mind. It is different in every single person. It comes from different place. It is based on what we know and what we don’t know but want to know. Some said that curiosity comes from genetics, some said that it is a part of the cerebrum that produces this feeling. But the truth is that curiosity is the simple act and wish to know the unknown.The internet itself is full of answers. From teenagers to grandparents, there is always something we’re interested in. Whether it is news or what our friends are doing, the internet supplies these answers. Twitter, instagram, and news sites fulfill our need to know what is going on and where immediately. This simplicity attracts people. While without it, people are pushed away from asking questions and finding out the answers due to the monotonous book reading or library searching needed to carry it out.
Curiosity is the mother of knowledge. In fact, curiosity acts as a driving force behind many a discovery or invention. It is the mainspring of every advance of human civilization.
Curiosity opens new prospects and produces newer interest to further progress. As for example, we can think of the great scientist, Sir Isaac Newton. One day he sat under an apple tree. An apple fell down. He became alert. He asked himself why the apple did not go upward. Afterwards he invented the laws of the force of gravitation.
Columbus discovered America while he was out to satisfy his curiosity. Livingstone explored the Dark Continent. Magellan voyaged round the world. Even the moon has been conquered by the force of our curiosity.
As a matter of fact, the internet plays a daily role on our lives. Cleary, nowadays without the internet, we couldn’t live properly; because it provides us many tools for: communication, work, school, entertainment, sports, and it can also serve as a benefit for when it comes to create networking with the people around. This can also affect our perpetual curiosity because on the internet we can find diverse resources of information in order to enhance our knowledge. Although almost everything is on the internet, we cannot hinder ourselves to use only that source of information. As a teenager, I can infer that diverse curiosity is what drives us to acquire a bigger potential of information and explore the world of doubts that sometimes we may have. Sometimes, while doing a work, watching a movie, or being in social media, I get interested about a specific topic, like for example: sports, history, food recipes, among others. Furthermore, I often hear adults asking themselves or to others, why do teenagers spend a lot of time using electronic devices? The answer to this question, may lead up to curiousness that each one of us may have. With this in mind, I can characterize this type of curiosity as a diverse one; due to all of its implements it has on our commonwealth. In addition, I consider myself a very curious person, because when I am reading about a certain topic, for example: ideas of desserts to do at home; I get really interested on the topic and eventually I do my own research. Moreover, I can relate this topic with my daily life; because, I have been looking for information related to exercises and workouts to do at home. Every day, I can see the importance of being eager to acquire more knowledge by reading, writing, and spending time with our friends and family. Overall, I can see the positive role that the power of curiosity has on our lives.