Yes agree this discussion is based upon the total lack of imagination of ppt presentation where even so far as to read the dot points as they are presented - mundane ++++++++

I have used ppt as a part of my professional teaching of psychiatric issues however I differ from the "mass" use as stated above.

Ppt can be interesting and provoke discussion if it is presented that way, rather than simply delivering information, spoon feeding the recipients.

It can be dynamic and propose ideas, ask questions, offer alternative options, just as in a debate and in that way bring the audience into the ppt so that they provide direction and conversation.

Didactic ppt can be mindless and if simply providing information it would be better used as a print out for pre-reading before discussion.

No I don't think PowerPoint would affect critical thinking. I mean it doesn't really affect the way people analyze to make a judgment about something. Its just another way to organize their judgment on something.

No. I think the author of that article was on the right track, but pretty much missed the train.

That is to say, YES, some of the recent high-tech apps and gadgetry, technology, is a threat to some of our cognitive reasoning abilities. As well as our long-term memory. And our people skills. As electronic social media is way to easy and takes the human to human contact out of the equation. It is a large reason that most young people today have atrocious public speaking and interview skills.

I don't see the problem with Power Point, per se, however. It is is just a way to streamline and organize a presentation.

Now, what IS a huge threat is Google. And all the other search engines. Think about it: back in the day, before Google, if me and you weer talking about, say, music and were trying to remember who that guy from Delaware was back in the 80s who had that real raspy voice and sang electric blues, and had that song "Bad to the Bone", well, we would have to search our memory banks. That is to say, exercise our brains. Which are like a muscle: you use it or lose it.

But now, hell, all we do when we cannot come up with an answer is immediately Google it. No thought process is involved. A 10-year could Google "Fermat's Last Theorem" and have ans answer, when in reality he does not understand the first thing about it.

I admit I use Google daily, and am as addicted to it as anybody. It is an awesome tool. But you watch and see, over-use and dependence on this and other apps of its type will, in the long run, erode some of our cognitive abilities. Mostly our memory and recall abilities.