Intelligence

     My parents recently upgraded from good ol’ flip phones to lovely iPhone4′s. My dad is getting on well enough with his, but my mom is having a hard time adjusting – not only to the bill that comes along with smartphones, but also to the device itself. As a result of her adamant dislike of her new phone, we got into a discussion about difficult technology, learning, and intelligence.

     She insists that she is too stupid to learn this complicated technology. I argued against this. I was adamant that learning something like this phone was more a matter of want rather than mental capacity. She continues to insist she is too dumb. I stand by my theory, that learning is more a matter of opening your mind and having a desire to learn.

     I’m not saying it’s easy by any means, and that there are not different levels of ability, but I firmly believe that learning and intelligence comes down primarily to desire and effort. If you close off your mind, allow yourself to feel nothing but frustration and never push through that, then yes, you’ll be stuck at the beginning for a very long time. I tried to encourage my mom to let go of her frustration and open her mind to learning. We’ll see whether she sticks with this phone or re-activates her old flip phone.

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