How Technology Has Changed Our Generation

A Book Review on The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future by Mark Bauerlein

Technology is defined as machinery and equipment developed from the application of scientific knowledge. Its original use was meant solely for the service of humans, however overtime it has evolved into something much different. What was originally meant to be an assisting piece of machinery has changed almost every aspect of our culture. The way we think, communicate, lie, and even love has been impacted by the use of technology, and all of this is has made for interesting pieces of literature. In pieces such as Her and I, Robot, we see the evolution of robots and artificial intelligence into a more empathetic and humanlike creatures. This gradual change in our views of robots overtime speaks volumes to the evolution of technology. Technology in literature has become a reflection of human beings themselves, mirroring the very qualities of ourselves that make us human. By looking at the personality that technology takes on in literature, we can greater understand the aspects of ourselves that truly make us human.

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

In chapter one of The Dumbest Generation, Mike Bauerlein makes several statements about our generation and comes to a conclusion that helps set the groundwork for the entire book. His analysis of today’s youth states that the current generation is lacking when it comes to intellectual knowledge. He provides evidence that states that today’s under-thirty population in the United States does not have adequate knowledge, and their lack of knowledge with affect them greatly in their adulthood years.

Along with the progression of society, major advances have been made in hundreds of different fields — particularly technology. Controversy has risen, and debates ensued over whether today's young Americans are really “the dumbest generation,” due to their “money, media, e-gadgets, and career plans” [Source A]. While advances have been made, they have brought with them resources to benefit off of, and ultimately assist in the overall intellect and intelligence of the human race.

A few years ago, I decided to learn sign language. It was not a project for a class, a requirement to graduate, or a fact that everyone knew. I just wanted to learn sign language, so I did what many twenty-first century millennials do and downloaded an app. The app showed me diagrams to learn basic phrases, videos to perfect the movements, and lessons to learn more efficiently. The technology of the app made learning sign language easy, and I could use it wherever I went. I thought that I was smart for using technology to learn specific things, but Mark Bauerlein, the author of a 2008 book called The Dumbest Generation, would disagree. According to Bauerlein, twenty-first century teenagers possess “low knowledge levels” when compared to past generations because of the increased use of technology. However, Bauerlein is mistaken. This generation is not “the dumbest generation” because we focus on different topics, we write more often, and we know that every generation has been called “the dumbest”.

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

Which generation really takes the title of the dumbest generation? Is it people under the age of 30? How does age have a part in this statement? And why is there even a dumbest generation?

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.

Bauerlein claims, “Young Americans have much more access and education than their parents did, but in the 2007 Pew survey on ‘What Americans Know:1989-2007,’ 56 percent of 18- to 29- year-olds possessed low knowledge levels, while only 22 percent of 50- to 64- year-olds did”(Bauerlein). This allusion to a Pew survey shows that more under 30’s are dumb, this is believed to be because of this generation’s access to new technology. Even though the older generations may have had less information they showed up smarter, this is because instead of having all information easy at the finger-tips they had to read and learn. Even with all of the technology they have, this

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

In his best-selling book The Dumbest Generation, professor and social critic Mark Bauerlein makes the statement that “those under thirty comprise the dumbest generation in modern history.” Which is a wildly distorted statement, surely the millennials don’t remember as much facts as there parental generations did but to call them the dumbest generation is completely absurd. In fact the under 30 generations perform better than the previous generations in many areas of intellect. Perhaps making them one of the smartest generations ever, with the highest IQ levels, there focus on accessing information and how there leading a literacy revolution.

Essay Many Americans today are extremely familiar with the term “technologies and digital media,” and how they are not helping young Americans with education and general knowledge, which led to the generalization that they are the dumbest generation (Mark Bauerlein). However, according to the articles, The Dumbest Generation?Don’t Be Dumb by Sharon Begley, Is Google Making Us Stupid? By Nicholas Carr, and Living and Learning with New Media: Summary of Findings from the Digital Youth Project, Mizuko Ito et al., the authors all came up with one generalization that technologies and media are helping the young generation in their learning and they are instead, not the dumbest generation. The claim that those under age thirty are “the dumbest generation.”

Many students today live in a world where technology has taken over, this current generation has much more complex technology than previous generations. This generation is not in fact the dumbest but is simply finding a new processes and styles to further our learning and comprehension. Newer technology is causing us to favor different processes that our brain uses when needing to find new information or receiving new information. When reading Sharon Begley’s “The Dumbest Generation?