Is Critical Thinking Being Outsourced To Google?

Mukul Chopra | LinkedIn | March 1, 2014

One of my favorite questions to a young prospective job applicant goes like this:

Imagine you are on a deserted island with no phone or other internet enabled device. You have never been to NYC. Now, if I asked you how many Thai restaurants are in NYC? How would you try and find that out? What considerations might be important to answer this question?

Responses have varied, but here are some which are fairly common for the Millennial Generation:

"So, like, can I call someone who has a computer?" No, remember you don't have a phone.

[...] ....and so it goes.

Most never reach the point at which they actually begin to solve the problem. They are too busy trying to find out how they can get to someone who might get them to Google!