Technology And The Dumbest Generation

Technology nowadays always use to have so much information at our fingertips, but is this a good thing? That is what Jamais Cascio’s “Get Smarter” and Nicholas Carr’s “Is Google Making Us Stoopid?” both discuss; they specifically address the effects that new technology, such as the internet, has on the way humans think. The difference is that Carr argues that this new technology is making us stupid while Cascio argues that it is making us smarter. Nicholas Carr’s article discusses the negative effects of the internet and technology like it. It specifically mentions slight changes in the way people do things because of the influence of technology and gives many historical and anecdotal examples. Jamais Cascio’s article is about the advancements of technology and how it is makes people smarter. Cascio talks about Twitter, mental enhancement drugs and AIs, focusing a lot on the benefits of the advancements.

Clive Thompson’s “Smarter Than You Think” reflects upon the idea that technology is her to help us more than we think, rather than the popular belief that technology is ruining the way we think. Thompson believes that the pair between human and technology is making us smarter. Along with that, our minds are slowly adapting to the use of technology, advancing our thinking. Lastly, the relationship between technology and human, has brought humanity closer than ever with the ability to communicate with anyone, anywhere, at any time. Clive Thomason believes the stronger the bond between humans and technology, the smarter we can become; I also alongside with Thompson believe this is true, and if so us as humans need to embrace the use of

Nicholas Carr is an American author who writes the majority of books and articles about the continuously evolving world of technology and how it is effecting our society. Nicholas Carr’s The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains, was a 2011 Pulitzer Prize finalist and a New York Times bestseller. In this essay I will be rhetorically analyzing Carr’s essay “Is Google Making Us Stupid” published in 2008. The purpose of Carr’s essay was to bring light to an issue that many of us face but only a meniscal few have come to terms with; and that is that technology is mentally incapacitating our society and simultaneously making us lazy. This essay was intended for anyone was has been consumed in today’s culture by new technological advances to the extent of not being able to function without some sort of device, IE cellphone, laptop or tablet on a daily basis.

“We are gradually changing from a nation of calloused hands to a nation of agile brains.” – Marcel Just. (Begley 92) This quote really speaks to me. I find it to be very true as we are focusing more on developing new technology to do the work we might be doing with our hands. It is similar to the common expression “Work Smarter not Harder”. I think that this is what the internet is letting us do. However many authors and writers do not think this is the case. They believe that the internet is making us less intelligent as it is rewiring our brain to think in order of internet articles rather than books. I on the contrary believe the internet is giving us an easy opportunity to learn which is therefore making us more intelligent.

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”.

Are Americans getting dumber? In the age of 24-hour News cycle and reality TV celebrities turn presidential candidates it would appear so. In fact, author Susan Jacoby wrote a popular editorial for the Washington post in 2008 called How Dumb Can We Get? Claiming that Americans are, well, getting dumber. Jacoby attributes the problem, one she calls anti-intellectualism, to the increased integration of technology into our everyday lives. However, before we heed the message of Susan Jacoby and brush up on our celestial navigation and nephology, let's consider a few things.

The generation of people under the age of 30 are not the dumbest generation. Due to the increase in use of technology people believe that it is causing are generation to lack intelligence. But technological advances like video games, having access to the web and having the ability to research online have improved students academic results and social skills. Throughout are generation video games have provided us with many skills that have benefited are generation in multiple ways.

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?

In Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, technology plays a major role in the society. Their society is so influenced by technology that they simply cannot function without it. They aren’t capable of thinking on their own because they rely so heavily on technology to think for them. Bradbury’s prediction was correct. The world is so reliant on their technology that students can’t leave their phones at home for one day without being behind on an assignment or two. Technology plays a crucial role in American society today in economic and social ways. It allows society to easily communicate with people all around the world with just one click of a button. Therefore, technology is a good thing when used in the Virtually all businesses today use some form of technology to more efficiently produce their services or products. Even social networks have been created to allow people to post events in their lives and talk to others online. Texting permits people to communicate without out actually talking to each other. Although, these enhancements in technology allow for quicker and easier forms of communication, society is also becoming much less social as a result. increase In Fahrenheit 451, Bradbury argues that the development of technology is “dumbing down” people in the Utopian society, ultimately warping the perfect world into a dystopian society. Ray

You express how much you value connections as much as much as you express your other values, and you, dear reader, are likely to esteem certain types of personal connections over others. In The Dumbest Generation by Matt Baulerlein, he expresses how this exact trait could be the downfall of an entire young generation because teenagers are connecting too strongly to their technology. In Echo and Narcissus, Narcissus' fatal flaw is desiring a relationship with no one but himself, and obsessing over his own vanity. I believe that while these sources express their concerns for becoming obsessed with vanity, or technology, we must keep balance among every type of connection in order to be content and active in the world.

Is the internet making us smarter or dumber? People continuously argue whether this rise of electronic use and internet in our lives is a negative or positive aspect. In June 5, 2010 Wall Street Journal article, Nicholas Carr raises and answer the intriguing question,“Does the Internet Make You Dumber?”Nicholas Carr argues that the internet has bad effects on our brain. He says that the internet makes it harder to remember anything, and that is harder to move memories into long term memory. Those who are continually distracted by emails, alerts, and text messages understand less than a person who can concentrate. Nicholas Carr points that the internet can change the way our brain acts. He states that those who use the internet are shallow, and the internet is causing irreversible damage to our thought processes and making us stupid. A week later, Steven Pinker counters Nicholas Carr’s assertions in his own New York Time article,“Mind Over Mass Media.”He argues that electronic technologies are not as horrible as some may make it seem, and he starts his article by addressing how“New forms of media have always caused moral panics”(199). Throughout his article, Pinker explains why critics, who accuse electronic technology as harming to human intelligence, are wrong. He suggests that,“these technologies are the only things that will keep us smart”(200). Through media and social networking, the internet brings people closer together and provides convenience for people’s life.

If an individual were to stumble across some current issues, one may hear word that smart technology, such as mobile devices, has driven humanity down a narrow path to the destruction of the mind and way of thinking. Although no solid evidence can be provided as to whether or not this change is lowering the human intelligence, one cannot help but notice society's change in the methods of interaction and communication. Perhaps it is not that there may be a lack of intelligence, but rather the birth of a new way of thinking and storing memories. It has been proven through current studies that human thinking has abundantly expanded in one area of the brain and yet shows the complete opposite results in a different area. There is an explanation

In the article The Many Ways of Being Smart, Literacy Scholar Mike Rose argues that people had distorted the meaning of smart, and applies it unmodified to technology, whereas this " intellectual abundance” promoted under the worship of technology enforces us to forget the essence of smart. He reminds us that it is important to remember that smart has many meanings besides assisted by computer technology. I like the way Rose uses the distortion of the meaning of smart to allude we desperately want to find the perfect solution for every problem we have, therefore, leaving too much trust in technology. However, I think he leaves a sense of lament toward using technology, which is overly concerned. To me, technology simplifies many dense and complicated