Mark Bauerlein's book The Dumbest Generation has the subtitle, "How the Digital Age Stupefied Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future."
For Thursday's assignment, leave a response detailing how you think the digital age stupefies your generation.
For bonus points, you may choose to leave feedback to a classmate's response.
Thanks!
This is due by midnight tonight (Wednesday).
Face to face communication is on a serious down climb. Its to the point where most kids are awkward to talk to.
ReplyDeleteIt is so simple for us to speak our mind via Twitter and Facebook, and we aren't even afraid to ridicule and argue over something. Yet, when it comes to face to face we are so shaky and red-faced.
DeleteThat is the biggest problem for our generation. We can't have a society without actual people skills.
DeleteA thing that seemed true is kids are different online. If they are anonymous, they say what they want to look tough. Now that work and schools are able to track down what you post, people are more cautious about what pictures or tweets they put out to the public. Clowns on the internet will be clowns in real life regardless.
DeleteWhy do you think this is? Bauerlein argues that social media allows kids to mature "horizontally" (meaning they get most of their feedback from their peers) as opposed to the 'good old days' when kids had to at least (on a face to face basis anyway) interact with adults. That adult interaction in a face to face fashion resulted in teens getting feedback and seeing behaviors modeled by adults. Thus, they could mature "vertically" more than today. Thoughts?
ReplyDeleteI agree with Blake. With all the technology that is available to us, we have no need to have face to face conversations with anyone outside of our circle of friends. Without the experience of face to face communication, job interviews will be extremely challenging for many people.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Blake also. I know for a fact that I am super awkward and shy when it comes to having conversations with actual people. But I could talk forever with a complete stranger over texting or a social media site.
DeleteSometimes though, if people study and get "too smart" they lose the ability to communicate with people. They can't have a legitimate conversation with somebody because they are too busy "showing off" their knowledge and make the other person feel awkward in the meantime.
DeleteI see your last point Becca. Have you ever heard of someone not getting a job (say a doctor or lawyer or engineer) because they were 'too smart' as opposed to not getting a job because they lack people skills?
DeleteI think kids now a days are too dependent on technology. We are so used to being able to whip out our phones and get any piece of information that we want off of Wikipedia or some other "non-reliable" source. So when we have to use actual books, we're screwed. We physically have to find the right pages, and paragraphs with relevant information. Instead of just typing the keywords in the "Find" search bar.
ReplyDeleteYou stole the words right out of my mouth!!
DeleteI completely agree with this, but think of half the things you google, or the person sitting next to you googles... Without being able to find an answer instantaneously, would we really seek answers in over half of our questions? Chances are, we wouldn't. So although we may be dependent, is this dependency really stupefying us or is it helping us by supplying us with answers and knowledge to many things (whether worthwhile or plain stupid) that we may just go without knowing otherwise because nothing else is as convenient?
DeleteExcellent points Jordan, Glen, and Rhonda. One thing your generation certainly needs is to have, as Don Tapscott says, "BS detectors," because so much out in the internet is unreliable.
DeleteAfter all, how many people do you see get all fired up over some propaganda post on Facebook? Chances are the story is totally false or maybe contains a shred of truth.
Google is an interesting point, Rhonda. It's great to have instant answer just a click away (I read that the average person today with a laptop and internet has access to the same amount of information that president Clinton did back in the early 1990's prior to the proliferation of the web).
But just because you can Google something, is that so different than writing it down from a teacher's lecture 40 years ago and memorizing it for a test and then forgetting it promptly after the test?
I don't know.
We use google to look up everything now. Some students don't know how to utilize the library or other resources anymore. They are just lost on what to do when they have to have other resources besides ones from the web.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Becca, that our generation has know idea how to gain information through anything other than the internet. I would bet money that over 90% of Lincoln High School students do not know where they encyclopedias in our library are located. It really hurts our generation too, to be so dependent on technology.
DeleteI truly think that our generation has been stupified in the sense that technology has led to a lack of respect for these tools for school purposes. When a teacher gives students the right to use their cellphones or other devices in class, they often end up only being used for social networks and leisure sites rather than the actual purpose of the right. Such easy access to other than educational programs leads to frequent abuse.
ReplyDeleteYou hit the nail right on the head! When teachers give us assignments in the labs kids just end up going on Twitter or Facebook.
DeleteGlen,
DeleteExcellent response. So how can we use the digital tools at your disposal to enhance the learning experience?
Maybe by only using apps or websites in which the teacher could track activity. Otherwise have the assignment require constant updates using a social network, like Twitter, where the teacher could get at least what they are looking for.
DeleteThat's a great idea.
DeleteI agree with Glen, I've seen this happen all the time in the labs.
DeleteIt is bad for us because we depend so heavily on it. So many people think if it isn't on Google it doesn't exist. Some kids have no clue how to find a book in the library because they never need to.
ReplyDeleteI believe that as technology advances so does this generations lack of ability to communicate face to face. I see it every day in the hallways of our school. The blatant lack of respect that to many of the kids hold for the adults that are trying to ready them for the world outside these walls. This is all because of how this kids have no clue how to even talk to adults. I fear that it will only get worse if nothing is done to show these kids that respect has to be shown always and in every conversation. I think that kids need to put down the devices and have a real conversation with an adult every week to improve there social skills.
ReplyDeleteI agree! I see adults who are trying to talk to some kids and as soon as their phone vibrates, they take it out instantly and start to reply. Let's get real here, that's disrespectful.
DeleteSam, I believe you have a story to add to Sheena's point. Be sure to bring it up in class.
DeleteTechnology is hurting our generation's way of communicating and working our way through school. Everywhere you to work on an assignment or project, technology is at easy access. I think we can all agree that we rely way to much on our technology and like Jordan said, if we have to look it up in the books, we're screwed. All we want is to find an answer, right or wrong, doesn't matter. Chances are if we find it on an un-reliable internet source rather than our textbooks, it's going to be wrong anyways. As for communicating, we don't make conversation with who is physically around us, instead we take out our phones and start having non-verbal conversations with our other friends.
ReplyDeleteWe live by a know all and do no wrong mentality, which puts a burden on our ability to learn. "Why should we learn it this way when we can learn it this way?" - our millennium. In order to be smart we need to embrace the old and new ways of teaching!
ReplyDeleteBlake (AKA Bauerlein JR) has a point. And you most certainly will see this up close and personal in 6 months at college. I know one professor who has his class only meet online via the class wiki. Yet, I also know many, many professors who still do the old "sage on the stage" style where they lecture for 45 minutes and you take notes. How to join the two, I think, is the key to your generation.
DeleteThe digital age stupifies us because we no longer focus on our teachers or our classes, we are concerned about how boring their lectures are and what new is happening on twitter or who just texted us. Our focuses aren't on education anymore, they are on entertainment.
ReplyDeleteThat's Bauerlein's point exactly. And It's a concern. And it's legit. But, when was this NOT true for any generation? I learned the old fashions boring lecture way and I didn't go home and dutifully read my textbook or review my notes when there was a football game on or new Metallica cassette to listen to or Super Mario game to play.
DeleteThe digital age caused us to have unlimited information and the touch of a finger tip. This causes us to expect things instantly, outside of the Internet. This explains why we don't read as much, because we just want the main idea and or the answer.
ReplyDeleteSo are we technically smarter because we have all this information at our fingertips? Or, are we dumber because we don't have to memorize anything?
DeleteTechnology is hurting our generation. We don't feel like we need to give a great deal of effort to get good grades when we can get answers to homework online every night. We are lazy and just want the answers. But our generation is good at finding the quickest and easiest way to get things done, using the resources available to us.
ReplyDeleteI don't think it's the technology of the digital age that stupefies our generation, it is the resources available through technology that is responsible for any stupefying. And by that I mean social networking sites, or other resources along such lines. You don't see people become consumed in valuable knowledge they may find in an online database like you see someone consumed in social networking.
ReplyDeleteI should have read your response before posting mine because it looks like I ripped off your idea. It's very true because I fall into that category of using the internet for entertainment rather than educational purposes.
DeleteKids from our generation are slowly losing the ability to communicate in actual human interaction. We are relying on our technology to do all of it for us rather than taking the extra step.
ReplyDeleteTechnology doesn't hurt 'our generation'. It is the way we use it that makes it less productive. During class, if a teacher lets a class work on a project or paper, there are just as many kids on Facebook or playing Happy Wheels as there are people working. There is too much freedom and even if there are filters to block certain sites, people will always find a way to access them.
ReplyDelete