Digital Natives Research Paper

In the world, everything is constantly changing. The world is moving roughly 1,000 miles per hour. People in the world are sometimes unwilling to accept change. This is completely understandable. To some people change is scary. Little do they know, they are constantly changing. No matter how unwilling you are to change, you will always be changing. As you

The use of technology once hindered societies ability to adjust to new situations; however, technology has now advanced to a point where society can use it to adapt to any situation at hand. As technologies continue to increase society will be able to adapt to more problems with greater knowledge ready at hand.

Is Generation Y the dumbest generation yet? In Sharon Begley’s essay “The Dumbest Generation? Don’t be Dumb” she brings up an author by the name if Mark Bauerlein. Bauerlein has wrote a book describing how he believes Generation Y is the “dumbest generation” and is blaming it on their ignorance with use of the internet. He uses very basic evidence, such as that there has been a decline in adult literacy from 40 percent of high school grads in 1992 to 31 percent in 2003. (Begley 90) Begley brings up a very good point as the definition of “Dumbest”. (91) She proposed two separate definitions, the first being “holding the least knowledge” and the second being “lacking such fundamental cognitive capacities as the ability to think critically and

The current generation in particular, cares “less about knowing information than knowing where to find information,” [Source B] and according to Bauerlein, today’s youth have “much more access and education” than their predecessors [Source A]. This is another example of humans taking their own advances for their personal advantage. The new tools and devices that come along with the technological advances have such a great assistance to every generation willing to use them. In fact, a study from the U.S. governments Foreign Service Journal in 1962 states the candidates had an ignorance to “elementary a subject as geography” and that few of them could “even place accurately the principal rivers” or even discuss other subjects that could be argued to simply be common knowledge [Source E]. This is proof; America is growing and changing in positive lights, not negative, and using recourses that have been made for the purpose of helping our generations. Although newer generations don’t generally learn knowledge in the same way as their elders, they have ways to do so with an improved efficiency and

Over the course of time technology has changed society’s views on various topics. In The Dumbest generation, Mark Bauerlein makes the argument that the youth generation is less knowledgeable than the older generation. This is not necessarily the case because the youth generation do not feel the need to know facts such as “who wrote the oratorio “Messiah” (which 35 percent of college seniors knew in 2002, compared with 56 percent in 1955) (Source B). As mentioned previously this is not by any means indicating that the youth generation is less knowledgeable, but instead shows that they have other resources to find out this information rather than just knowing it. Also, not knowing facts that were once very important to the older generations does

It is believed by many that younger generations, those under the age of thirty are the “dumbest”. Apparently, technology has now influenced and molded people into less-intelligent individuals who lack the knowledge and skills that people of the same age once acquired. Though if we look at more aspects of their learning capabilities, millennials do have the potential to be bright beings, now seen through more creative, non-traditional ways. And because of this, younger generations cannot be undermined as they have high levels of cognitive abilities, the help from technology, and how technology makes them write more and be more involved with their interests. Younger generations are not limited in their cognitive abilities, rather these abilities are expanding as time progresses.

The younger generation of Americans, those under the age of thirty, are often criticized as being the “dumbest generation”. Many Americans blame technology for making “goods so plentiful, schooling so accessible, diversion so easy, and liberties so copious” (Bauerlein). Many are posing the question: Is the increasing ease in life causing our intelligence to slip? Those under thirty are not the dumbest generation, in fact, technology is expanding, changing, and pushing in new directions intelligence and mental capacity.

Attention to Nicholas Carr and his argument about technology it’s destroying our brains and affecting the world, the new generation and everyone. In recent discussions of the shallows, a controversial issue has been whether the internet is truly affecting us or not. On the other hand, however, others argue that the internet is making them more creative and some say it’s making them smarter. The best point in view on this issue, is reflected by Nicholas Carr in his book The Shallows when he writes, “ The price we pay to assume technology’s power is alienation.” ( Carr,211). This insightful perspective demonstrates the truth of the matter; the price we pay to spend our day on the internet or using any other technology is alienation. That means

In his article he talks about the under 30 generation actually being smarter than previous generations. And that is because of technology something seen as a mind enabler might actually be helpful.According to Thompson, Lunsford says that young people “write more than any generation” specifically any generation “before them.” So if we are the dumbest generation why are we writing more, “38 percent of it took place out of the classroom” says Lunsford. Even if the writing is occurring on facebook, through “chat sessions” and twitter it’s still happening, and believe it or not it’s benefitting our writing. Our tone and self expression is evolving quicker and better than previous

During Kathryn Tyler’s first section she talks about how millennials are connected and how the connectivity of technology has changed our generation. One of her first points in this section was about how students today are able to talk with their parents while away from college, “Now, students may be going across the country, but they call their parents on the cell phone three to five times per day” (Tyler 478). She really emphasizes the difference between the generation from today and the previous generation, “Years ago, most college dorm rooms had one land line, and, if parents were lucky, kids called home once a week” (478). Right away she stats facts of the generations are changing which gives the reader a very good a clear understand of how

Since its introduction on a public scale in the 1990s, the internet has been associated with many changes in social experience. Many aspects of social life such as education, work, commerce and even personal relationships have changed through the internet. However, researchers have found that, at least in the early years, access to the internet is shaped according to gender, class, ethnicity and education. During the 1990s the typical information technology user was a white, male, professional with a background in IT. This bias in internet access was named the ‘digital divide’ to point out the implied social inequalities. It was said that the internet was

In today’s world it is a requirement to be digitally literate in order to be able to function in a capacity that enables one to be more successful whether it is at home, school, at our jobs or even looking for a job. Over the last few decades our environment has evolved into a digital environment. Being or becoming digitally literate is essential in being successful in this digital environment. Almost everything we do today requires some sort of digital knowledge or literacy. From surfing the internet to searching for a job to being able to perform our jobs, we are required to have some sort of digital

Today’s abundance of digital technology is corrupting our youth. Digital technology is preventing the full development of cognitive, social and communication skills in children and adolescents. Electronic devices are introduced to babies and toddlers. Adolescents are glued to their smartphones and tablets. Games and social media have become the primary concern of adolescents and teenagers to the exclusion of real social relationships. Parents often do not intervene and are grateful that their children are being entertained and supposedly not getting into to trouble by engaging with their electronic devices. Research conducted on the internet by adolescents is often haphazard and sloppy. Digital technology which has many positive uses is being misused by the younger generation both academically and socially. The misuse and overuse of technology is causing basic developmental problems in terms of social interaction, cognitive development, attention spans, and emotional stability. This growing trend is being addressed in California legislation, which will be discussed at the end of the essay.

Some authors believe that technology and social media play a positive impact in education. For example Marc Prensky, an American writer and speaker on learning and education in his article “Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants” Prensky talks about the differences in learning abilities in today’s students that he refers to as digital natives as compared to the older generation that he terms as digital immigrants. Digital natives have brains that can receive and process information faster than older generations. In addition, they can retain information that is more detailed. Judging by this reason, technology is advantageous to mental development (Prensky). I disagree with Prensky because, despite the fact that technology has many advantages to

I have also learned that there is something called a "Digital Divide" that pertains to the different relative access to online information and applications available to different populations,