Cheating Time With Wikipedia

So I feel the main use of Wikipedia has to do with something I have little of as of late- TIME.

I'm getting ready for the Wikipedia haters tomorrow night. I'm sure I'll hear how its the end all of civilization, how it will results in the dumbing down of a generation, how it will give everyone who uses it - and only it - possibly misleading information which will make us all stupid.

But right now I'm going to come to its defense. Wikipedia helps me immensely. I never cite anything from it, nor use it for research. But its the best primer I've ever had for quick, accessible information. It has saved me hours of book work - hours that I wouldn't have anyway. And when you have five classes, varied extracurriculars and a job in a week that only has seven days, Wikipedia is a miracle. Its a web that keeps linking me to new pages of information.

I also don't buy the argument that looking things up on Wikipedia or Google makes people fake smart. I know that when I know one more piece of information on a subject, which I may have obtained from Wikipedia, I'm one step further in understanding the world and how it works.