Vanity Generation

Yu-Hao Chang

The 21st century has become a veritable "Facebook age”, In early July 2011, the number of Facebook users worldwide exceeded the 700 million mark, and the number of daily share was about 4 billion. Regularly updating your Facebook status is becoming an indispensable part in many people’s life. Even Twitter, has had close to a 200% annual subscriber growth in the past three years.

This is a crisis of identity and a reality show complex intertwined. This is a narcissistic era. British scientists recently issued a warning: Facebook and Twitter is creating a "vanity generation. This generation cannot concentrate on one thing for a long time and lack effective communication skills. "Attention"and "feedback" is the sole focus of their life.

In the article, Social Life, Personal Life, School: Identity Crisis, it states the computer virtual world seems to always be dirty due to the real world being slightly contaminated. The computer gives rise to a spiritual experience, a mental construct, or a kind of feeling into the computer mind. Some people will therefore indulge in the meantime. This phenomenon reflects the contemporary "identity crisis." People seem to live in a non-realistic parallel world with self-assessment dependent upon the comments and clicks ratio.

The blog is a tool for self-speaking, and is relatively independent of the private discourse space of the open discourse monopoly. Not only does it established the individual subject, but also the main body of the dispersion into stand-alone or multi-identity space. Overall, blog writing results in identity-based psychology. Construction of identity cannot be recognized solely based on the reality of social psychology. Celebrity and star blogs highlight the quality of life, consumption patterns, and the avant-garde way of thinking. The blogs represents a specific class of superiority and privilege, such as the capacity of the leaders of the blog to speak on a the behalf of a specific group.

Codependency and Technology

Holly Owens

As technology begins to ingrain itself further and further into our lives, rather than it just helping us, we in turn have become it’s assistants as well. It has become our responsibility to encourage development of new technology and to guide it in a way that is helpful to our society. We have developed a codependency between what we need from technology and what it needs from. Kevin Kelly asks the question “what does technology want?” He goes further to explain technology wants what we want; to advance and evolve. We create and use technology to make our own lives easier, while at the same time directing technology down the path it naturally wants to go.

This codependency between technology and us has gone even further by it changing the way we think, act, learn, and even the way we make choices. Articles we have read throughout the course of this semester have made one thing pretty clear: due to neuroplasticity and the new stimulations caused by technology, our brains have changed. The book The Digital Divide explains how our generation now learns in new faster paced ways, with decreased attention spans. I often find myself in lectures looking around, wanting to read ahead, get on the internet, or just about anything but focus my attention on one thing for a long amount of time. Technology has not only changed the way we communicate and socialize, but it has also greatly increased our dependency on it. Technology has added convenience while chipping away concentration.



Technology without a doubt has now taken over the society we live in; however, I don’t view this negatively. I can see how Mark Bauerlein could make the generalization about our generation becoming the dumbest due to how media and social oriented we have become. On the other hand, I really believe without the availability of technology I wouldn’t know half of the information I do or even have access to it. Through technology I can look up for instance who the 23rd president of the Unites States was, everything he accomplished and his whole life story in seconds, something that would have taken hours in the past. While technology definitely can be misused, I really believe a large portion of our generation appreciates and utilizes the benefits technology has to offer, not just to keep up to date on gossip.


Sources:

http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=2110cff8-de56-49c6-9ea2-28905494478a%40sessionmgr12&vid=4&hid=113

The Digital Divide, Google image, Pinterest

Dumbestgerneration.com, The Digital Divide

Social Media: The Key to Small Business

By Derrick Wright

In today’s society, virtually everyone uses some type of social media; about 1 in every 9 people in the world to be exact. It only makes sense for businesses to join in right along with us. Social Media websites actually provide a very nice niche for small businesses in particular to fill. These sites are providing a very cost friendly way for these smaller businesses with even smaller budgets cost friendly ways to stay in constant contact with their customers while attracting new ones as well. By creating and managing profiles on sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter small businesses can continue to fight “the good fight” against the major cooperation’s who constantly threaten their very existence.

Here are some statistics on how exactly small businesses are using these sites:



After looking at these statistics, I can’t help but to think how businesses using the same social media sites that we use every day affects us as the consumers. Personally, I know that I use my Facebook to share information, pictures, and other rather personal things with my friends. Through Facebook and other social media sites, I am able to share aspects of my life with others no matter where they are with just a few clicks. I’m not sure that businesses, no matter the size, should be included into that group. By these companies using social media websites they have an advantage. Now businesses don’t have to put forth much effort to figure out what we want or what we’re willing to buy. All they have to do is look at our personal pages and they have everything they need. They have access to all of the latest trends almost instantly. They are able to use our instinctive need to be social for their benefit. If you really think about though, the only way to do all of this is through technology. Technology is the key to this equation. So who’s really winning? We the people? Business? Or is the technology that we all seem to need and crave for the only winner here?

As of now, I only see the usage of technology going up. Mark Bauerlein has written a book in which he calls today’s generation The Dumbest Generation ever due to the social aspect of our technology usage. While I would have to agree that today’s generation, myself included, uses technology very heavily for the purposes of maintaining our social extremely large social structures, we are not the dumbest generation. We have simply adapted to the tools that we have around us. Being that we are social creatures, of course we are going to use technology that we have towards improving our social lives. I do believe, however, that we are very different from the generations that have preceded us. I believe that is at the fault of those older generations. Balance, as Mr. Mark Bauerlein explains, is a very crucial aspect of life that many people, today’s generation and older ones as well, overlook. In my opinion, the world and everything in it need balance in order to continue in existence. I believe it’s safe to say that technology usage has the balance beam of human life tilting.

Language of the Digital Native

By Dan Murray

On December 3rd, 1992 Neil Papworth, a 22-year old test engineer for Sema Group used a personal computer to send the first text message with actual words via the Vodafone network to the phone of Richard Jarvis. Little did Neil and Richard know that they had just opened the Pandora’s box to the ultimate dumbing down to date of the English Language. (S.V) Being a Digital Native this form of a morphed English is know as “text talk” has became my second language. Common examples include the phrase “ I will see you later” turning to “ Il CYA L8r”, and I couldn’t neglect my personal most hated” I will talk to you later” to “TTYL” (side note: If anyone ever texts me “TTYL” I will in fact not talk to you later). The future is only looking brighter; here are examples of the top 10 of 2012 (Paul Gil):

1) Wut- what
2) Coo- cool (typing that “l” takes to far long)
3) IDK- I don’t know
4) HMU- hit me up
5) Props- proper respect and acknowledgment
6) WBU- what about you?
7) KK- ok (probably the dumbest)
8) Sup- what’s up?
9) IDC- I don’t care
10) WDYMBT- what do you mean by that?

The fact is students today are drifting farther from their studies. As I’m writing this I’m finding it hard to sit and focus with the temptation of highlights on ESPN.com just a couple clicks away. This kind of instant access to friends and entertainment can be detrimental to ones learning outcomes. The students mind is now prone to a “getting it done on time” mindset instead of focus on quality of work mainly, because we have so many more options that we deem more enjoyable not even seconds away. Like technological visionary Edward Tenner cautioned” It would be a shame if the very intellect that produced the digital revolution could be destroyed by it.”(Digital Divide (37)


The jury is still out if we are in fact the dumbest generation in mankind, but its not looking very good. We may be able to process information faster than any other generation, but what is the point when it’s all surface level. I do believe that we will have some of the brightest people ever in mankind come from our generation, but I believe that gap from the intelligent to dumb is greater than before. I feel the issue is completely based on our effort, and barring the idea of some work ethic driven renaissance the gap will remain that way. However, surely are main objective as a generation will be cleaning up the environmental and economic mess the past generations have left us in. If we accomplish that goal we’ll be cherished, and if we fail…than we suck.

Technology in Education

By Maggie Mertz

It is becoming more of a common sight these days. Students shuffle into a classroom, busily chatting over what happened over the weekend as the teacher rises to demand attention, turning on their computer-powered smart board to begin the day’s lesson as students open up their laptops to begin the learning. But with this new take on providing an education to our future generations, do we really know the true effects that will take place? Jay Sivin-Kachala wondered the same thing and did 219 research studies over the span of nine years. The results returned in a mostly positive way. Sivin-Kachala found that technology rich environments had positive achievement in all subject areas, in both regular and special needs children, from Pre-K through higher education. While the study delivered positive results that would appear to be a green light for a mass distribution of technology-aided education, there was a major drawback present. The results also depend on the student population, software design, educator’s role, and the access to said technology.

So what does this mean? Well, like any tool, technology must be used in the proper ways. If teachers are just using it to play games during class, there is no way that this could come off as effective when it comes to overall education. Technology is still a relatively new tool, and we still need to learn how to hone and focus it to be used at the best of its abilities. Through research and trial and error, we could be looking to a future of even more brilliant generations.

In Small’s and Vorgan’s article “Your Brain Is Evolving Now,” they discuss how the brain is constantly adapting to new things. Our brains actually change with the exposure to novel items and experiences. Our generation is the first generation to have been exposed to technology our entire lives, this coining the term “digital native.” Older generations that have had to learn to adapt are called “digital immigrants,” In a study, the two generations were divided and given the simple task to use Google. The digital natives all showed activity in a front, left section of the brain called the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. The digital immigrants did not show such activity, and if it were present, it was minimal. But after just five days of practice, the very same activity was found in their brains. The digital immigrants can adapt and they can adapt quickly.

There is no other word but phenomenon to describe this situation. What used to take years of evolution happens now in a simple matter of days. Technology is having humans adapt at rates unseen ever before. It takes “survival of the fittest” to a whole new level. Technology is everywhere today. It has made its way into communication, advertisements, entertainment, and now even education. If there is no ability to adapt to it, then you are left behind. The learning curve may appear steep but studies have shown that it is easy to catch onto. It is obvious that society is headed in the direction of technology filled lifestyles and at this rate there is no turning back.

Mark Bauerlein, author of The Dumbest Generation, makes a few strong points in his argument about technology. Bauerlein claims that crucial skills are forgotten and that we are unable to sustain information as proficiently as previous generations. While I do agree that the ways in which we think are definitely changing, there is no denying that, it isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Yes, a negative effect of all of this information being available at the tip of our fingers through the magic of the Internet has caused us to be lazier. But it also has caused a more resourceful generation. There is obviously a cause for concern over the lost abilities of longer attention spans, but through the idea of Darwinism, is it really needed anymore? Our society is becoming so fast paced that these skills are maybe just not needed. There might be a panic for the digital immigrants to this new world function, but it doesn’t mean that it has to be a bad thing.

Sources:
http://www.mff.org/pubs/ME161.pdf
http://edudemic.com/2011/07/social-media-education/

TECHNOLOGY TAKEOVER

By Max Cozine

The abundance and power of technology is right before our eyes. Take a seat in any classroom and you’ll notice that at least half of the students are pre-occupied with digital data. How can we blame them? We have these sleek MacBook Pros, iPads, smartphones and all other kinds of devices these days that constantly keep us logged on and tuned in. Gone are books and articles which authors have slaved over to get published, only to fall to the wayside. Instead of paying attention to these resources as they are discussed in the classroom, students are too busy browsing the web for shallow information. Girls are online shopping. Guys are checking scores on ESPN. And everyone is addicted to Facebook. Oh, the distraction monster that is Facebook. We are too concerned with what’s going on outside that we aren’t absorbing the knowledge being bestowed on us by our predecessors. So many students bring their technological lives with them to the classroom that they can’t help but catch the attention of others. Just the other day, I found myself stuck staring at the computer screen of the person in front of me while they were on Twitter. But let us get back to Facebook.

A recent study was performed at THE Ohio State University, which found that users of Facebook said they averaged one to five hours a week studying, while non-users studied 11 to 15 hours per week. This correlated to non-users having a full one point higher GPA than users, which isn’t too surprising when you think about it. This kind of behavior is not only detrimental to the user, but to those around him or her. How am I supposed to keep my attention to the front of the class when the girl sitting to my right can’t stop showing me pictures of the party she went to over the weekend? I for one admit that I will wander off occasionally and play Bubbleshooter instead of listen to the instructor, but I’ve made the decision to not even bring my laptop to any class that isn’t held only once a week, seeing as how there are breaks during those longer classes. It isn’t a bad thing to use your personal laptop or tablet device during class, just please don’t let it become a distraction to others.

Many of the articles that we have read over the course of the semester emphasize the common theme of the Digital Native generation and the need for interactive learning. We as young adults live in a world where information is available at our fingertips. We want it and we want it fast. Long lectures aren’t as effective to us as they were during the Digital Immigrant’s age. Instead, we crave hands-on activities that throw out quick bits of knowledge to stimulate our brains. This seems to be the only way we can really learn. Just like we have discussed in class, the solution is not to move backwards, forcing students to read boring textbooks and write exhausting essays. Rather, teachers must adapt to the current generation’s fast pace and streamline the curriculum to accommodate for today’s students. This doesn’t mean that instructors must dumb-down their material, they just need to present it differently. Last semester I took a course that exhibited this kind of modification. My professor presented his lecture using Prezi. It was the first time I had experienced a presentation done this way and the finished product was very well done. Prezi is basically a PowerPoint animator. Anyone can design one and upload it to the website and display it to the world. It’s dynamic, fast, and exciting. I think that this is a step in the right direction.








I’m going to go out on a limb and claim that yes, we are the dumbest generation. Now, I don’t think that Mark Bauerlein is trying to be as hateful as he sounds with that statement. It probably would be more accurate if he proclaimed that we were the most ignorant generation, but I won’t hold it against him. We lack the knowledge of what it’s like to properly socialize with others face-to-face. Digital Natives are so linked in that they’ve forgotten what it’s like to go outside and experience what the world has to offer. Young people are reading and writing more words than ever before the only problem is that it comes in the form of shallow text messages, posts, etc. What isn’t making matters any better is that this behavior is forming bad writing habits as well. Teenagers use technology to keep in contact with one another to stay ahead of the peer pressure they could face by not being in the loop. We’re so caught up in communicating via social networking sites that we’re missing out on what can be learned by talking in person. Children and teenagers alike need to unplug after school in order to spend time with their families. Statistics show that kids who dine with the folks are healthier, happier, and better students. We gain valuable knowledge and lessons from our peers that can’t be provided over the World Wide Web.

Sources:
http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/facebookusers.htm
All images courtesy of Google.

Google: Too Much Information???

By: Katie Greenwell

In today’s society we fully rely on technology to get us from “point a” to “point b.” There is one helpful site that does almost everything for people all around the world, better known as Google. According to Nicholas Carr in the book, The Digital Divide, he asks the question, “What Is the Internet Doing to Our Brains?” Another blogger by the name of Bruce Friedman, regularly comments about the use of computers in medicine, also has described how the Internet has altered his mental habits.” Friedman says, “I now have almost totally lost the ability to read and absorb a longish article on the Web or in print.” The importance for the Internet is to obtain information that one might need to get from “point a” to “point b,” but for Google, the cite feeds and gives you everything and more that you need.

The graph below shows you the different search engines for researching a specific topic. Shows that 87.9% of Internet users choose Google. This is a very popular search engine for people all around the world.



The image below show even what apps you can get on Google, so many options, just for one search engine.




Google today has become more technologically advanced due to the scholars who are putting their work on Google so that it may be accessible to students who not only want to obtain sources from a factual database.

Today, people do say we are from the “dumbest generation,” but I beg to differ just because we have excessive use to the Internet does not mean we have to use the Internet as a source. We can look to other resources for sources for any topic, for instance a factual database like a university. Students, faculty, and staff here at TCU are known for obtaining their sources from the TCU database coming from the library. I believe that the library is a good source for information not only for research sources but also for outside sources non-relative to school. In conclusion I do not believe that we are the “dumbest generation,” but instead like to call our generation technologically challenged.


Sources
The book- Digital Divide
Voluntary Simplicity

TECHNOLOGY: VIOLENT TELEVISION, VIDEO GAMES & INCREASED AGGRESSION

By: Patricia Bush

Did you know that youths between ages 8-18 spend more that 40 hours per week using some type of media?

Did you know that 8-13 year old boys spend on average 7.5 hours a week playing video games?

Did you know that 90% of teens reported that their parents did not supervise the amount of time they spend playing video games and the ratings of the games they were playing?

We have entered a new era in which technology is becoming more and more integrated into our every day lives. We cohabit in a highly digital world in which everywhere you go you are surrounded by technology. Just stop and think of how much technology you are bombarded with in one day. We are constantly plugged into our cell phones, laptops, television, Kendals, video games, etc. We are developing a symbiotic relationship with our lifeless and emotionless technologies that are dictating how we live. Are we doing ourselves a disservice by conforming to this highly digitized world? We are by no doubt changing the ways in which we think and live due to our cornucopia of technologies.

From the creation of the printing press in the mid nineteenth century, there has been a continual progression in technology, specifically technology that influences mass media and technomedia. With the invention of the printing press, literacy rates skyrocketed. Reading became a leisure activity available to all social classes. Following the printing press, radio broadcasting (1920) and television (1939) entered the scene. There was an increase in the spread of knowledge and news. Not following far behind, the first video game joined the big dogs of the technological society. These new inventions drastically changed the development and socialization of society. Specifically, television and video games have been extremely influential in solidifying the norms, behaviors, and beliefs of the American culture.

Have you ever stopped to think about how television and video games really impact our behavior?


Or does exposure to violent television and video games really cause an increase in aggressive behavior? With the 40 plus hours teens use viewing television and playing video games weekly, there is no doubt that they have some ability to alter our behavior, but just how much? Through empirical studies such as experimental research, cross-sectional correlation research, and longitudinal research, psychologists have uncovered that there is in fact a direct link between violent television and videogames and aggressive behavior. The consistency of the findings based off of the three research methods provides one of the strongest research platforms in all of psychology. As the Psychological Science article, Effects of Violent Video Games on Aggressive Behavior, Aggressive Cognition, Aggressive Affect, Psychological Arousal, and Prosocial Behavior, states, “It is now known that even brief exposure to violent TV or movie scenes causes significant increases in aggression, that repeated exposure of children to media violence increases their aggressiveness as young adults, and that media violence is a significant risk factor in youth violence (Bushman and Husemann, 2001; Huesmann et. al., 2001). Evidently, there is a direct relationship between the two. According to Private-practice psychologist Elizabeth Carll, PhD, violent video games have a greater ability to cause aggressive behavior. As Carll states, “If you are actively involved in learning, you remember things better. So in a game you do things over and over again, whereas in the movies or on television you watch it once. And in the game there is reinforcement for it. So if it is killing people that you’re doing, you get a reward for that” (Do Video Games Really Spark Bad Behavior?).

The content of television and video games is socializing our youth and young adults to possess aggressive behaviors. In the Psychological Science article, the Columbine High School shootings was referenced to highlight the impact of video games on youths and young adults. It was noted that Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, the two individuals responsible for the murder of thirteen people, the wounding of twenty three, and their own deaths at the Columbine shootings, spent much of their time playing violent video games such as Doom.

It is evident through the research that there is a link between violence on television and video games and aggressive behavior, but why does exposure to violence through these sources cause subsequent violent/aggressive behaviors? According to Craig A. Anderson and Brad J. Bushman from the Psychological Science article, “the enactment of aggression is largely based on the learning, activation, and application of aggression related knowledge structures stored in memory (e.g. scripts, schemas).” They explain how exposure acts as a learning process and impacts short term and long-term processes. “From infancy, humans learn how to perceive, interpret, judge, and respond to events in the physical and social environment” (Anderson and Bushman). So from infancy, our brains are malleable and highly influenced by our every day interactions and experiences. If the majority of our time is spent watching violent television or actively engaging in hostile themed video games, our behavior will begin to reflect that content. Anderson and Bushman created GAM, General Aggression Model, to visually explain the link between exposure and aggression. The following two figures demonstrate this correlation.

As Anderson and Bushman wonderfully summarize, “Research on exposure to television and movie violence suggests that playing violent video games will increase aggressive behavior. A meta- analytic review of the video-game research literature reveals that violent video games increase aggressive behavior in children and young adults. Experimental and nonexperimental studies with males and females in laboratory and field settings support this conclusion. Analyses also reveal that exposure to violent video games increases physiological arousal and aggression-related thoughts and feelings. Playing violent video games also decreases prosocial behavior.”

So what does this mean for us? What is our call to action with this revelation of knowledge? The violence standards portrayed in today’s media are here to stay; we have opened Pandora’s box, and there is no closing it. Educating the general public on the direct relationship between violent TV and video games to aggressive behavior would be the first step. Utilizing our new technologies that are entering the digital age for productive and effective uses would also drastically impact the socialization of our society. We are products of society and history, but we are also history makers. We have the capability to direct our future for the better. It has been argued that this new technological generation is the dumbest generation due to our dependence on technology. I would beg to differ. We have the ability and are using our new technologies for the advancements of society. Although there are negative ramifications for technologies such as the impact of violent television and video games on behavior, we do not have to let this define us. What generations in the past did not change for our generation, we can change for ourselves and for the generations to come. By no means are we dumb. We are the ones creating the new technologies. We are the ones recognizing the impacts of technology on society and seeking to change the direction of the future for the better. We are the future. We are the change that we wish to see in this world.

Works Cited

Anderson, Craig A., and Brad J. Bushman. "EFFECTS OF VIOLENT VIDEO GAMES ON AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR, AGGRESSIVE COGNITION, AGGRESSIVE AFFECT, PHYSIOLOGICAL AROUSAL, AND PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOR: A Meta-Analytic Review of the Scientific Literature." Editorial. Web.

Bauerlein, Mark. The Digital Divide: Arguments for and against Facebook, Google, Texting, and the Age of Social Networking. New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin, 2011. Print.

DeNoon, Daniel J. "Do Video Games Really Spark Bad Behavior? | Fox News." Fox News - Breaking News Updates | Latest News Headlines | Photos & News Videos. Web. 12 Feb. 2012. .

"Video Games: Timeline — Infoplease.com." Infoplease: Encyclopedia, Almanac, Atlas, Biographies, Dictionary, Thesaurus. Free Online Reference, Research & Homework Help. — Infoplease.com. Web. 12 Feb. 2012. .

Future of Learning?

By Merideth Byrne

Today, kids spend more time than ever using technology. According to an article on Bloomberg Business Week by Steven Reinberg, kids today are using media on an average of 7 hours and 38 minutes a day. They have become more plugged in to all the different media, and less plugged in to what they should be learning in the classroom. This increased usage of technology has harmed students’ ability to learn in traditional ways, making it even harder for teachers to teach their students. To combat this growing problem, schools are starting to fight their problem with technology, with technology. At the Amelia Earhart Middle School in Riverside Unified School District in California, they launched the “worlds first iPad-driven algebra curriculum,” (Aimonetti, 2012).

When given the California Standards Test to test their knowledge after using the iPads “78 percent of students in the pilot program scored ‘proficient’ or ‘advanced,” (Aimonetti, 2012). According to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, a premier interactive education company, “by engineering a comprehensive platform that combines the best learning material with technology that embraces students’ strengths and address their weaknesses, we’ve gone far beyond...a one-way math lesson into an engaging, interactive supportive learning experience,” (Aimonettie, 2012). By giving the studentsa tool that gives them the best of their technology world, combined with the lessons of the teachers’ world, schools could give students a better chance to succeed. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt noticed that students who were in the pilot program were “more motivated, attentive, and engaging than traditionally educated peers,” (Aimonetti, 2012). From this article, it seems that eventually the only way to really get students motivated to learn would be to incorporate some sort of technology.

In the article “Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants,” by Marc Prensky, we are presented with information about the disparities between students and teachers today. According to Prensky, “students have changed radically. Today’s students are no longer the people our educational system was designed to teach.” Growing up immersed in a technological world has changed students’ ways of learning. Digital Natives (those who grew up with this new technology) are finding the traditional ways of learning out dated and boring. One reason why this could be is that their brains are programmed , causing them to think differently than the Digital Immigrants (those who didn’t grow up with new technology). According to the article “Do They Really Think Differently?” by Mark Prensky, video games in particular have affected the brain causing it to rewire; causing the Digital Natives attention span to decrease “for the old ways of learning.” They do, however, have a good attention span for games and other things that interest them. Why not teach them in a way that would interest them then? As long as it gets them to learn the material (and apparently excel at it according to the California Riverside ipad algebra pilot test from above), whats the harm? Many people would say that using technology in the classroom would only fuel the fire for kids to become more connected to technology and less connected to the real world.

Mark Bauerlein, the author of the “Dumbest Generation,” would say that my generation is in fact the dumbest generation. What is the main cause of the dumbness of my generation? Technology, of course. Technology has given access to more information than ever before, but instead of using it to learn, we are using it for social networks. I do see where Bauerlein is coming from, when he says that my generation is the “Dumbest Generation,” but in my opinion he is wrong. My generation is not the dumbest generation. We just think differently than the generations before us. Just like his generation thinks differently than the generation before him, and so on. With every generation, adjustments have to be made to fit them. My generation’s learning style is just different. If we are taught in a learning style that interests us, we could excel even more than if we were taught with traditional styles. I learn best when I am genuinely interested in what I am learning about, and how I am learning about it. For the majority of the people in my generation, using some sort of technology to teach them would be the best way to grab their interest. Just because my generation is more into social networks and other technology does not mean that all hope is lost for us. This just means it’s time to change things up a bit. It’s time to combine traditional teaching styles with the technology of today.

Digital Divide: Urban Myth, or Rural Truth?

Maryam Arastu

In addition, media exposure has been seen to be negatively correlated with performance in school and positively correlated with risk taking and aggressive behavior.

Though the concept of the “Digital Divide” is extremely prevalent around the globe and even in the US, the vast majority of American youth, regardless of socioeconomic status have access to substantial amount of technology and media. As the results of Roberts et al 2008 indicate, “Saturation or near saturation levels have been reached for all but the newest electronic media, and those are likely to follow much the same pattern”. As expected, television remains to be the most ubiquitous form of media usage, but its position could easily be usurped by the closely following video game.

Recent research abrogates the fact that age is a key determinant in technology and other media exposure. As the following data would suggest, “overall media exposure follow similar, age- related patterns”. The researchers speculate that the bimodal can be explained by changes in kid’s available times, which are driven by academic demands.

The Digital Divide, edited by Mark Bauerlein, brings up another looming setback of the exponential advancement of technology- the proliferation of the disparity between the “Haves” and the “Have Nots”. Many believe that technology will be the solution to poverty, ensuring educational tools to the less fortunate. But with technology expanding at nearly lightning fast speeds, budget cuts and minimal resources hinder the poor’s ability to get back on par with the rich.

Be wary of the Shallows… and Mind the Gap

In The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains, author Nicholas Carr brings to the light the fact that media is a double-edged sword. There is no doubt that the Internet, once military database turned World Wide Web, has a plethora of uses. The downside is something the masses fails to see: how it may be effectively “re-wiring” the core circuitry of our brain. This concept of neuroplasticity is the basis of many of Carr’s arguments.

After hearing of this Digital Divide, I began to mull over the long-term effects and came across some interesting findings. Oliver Curry, from the London School of Economics, goes as far to speculate that generations from now, there will be only two distinct groups of populations- the wealthy, beautiful and intelligent “Eloi”, and their not so complementary counterparts, the “Morlock”, who do slave work to keep the Eloi happy (BBC UK). Though one can’t directly attribute this hypothesis to the digital divide, they would be foolish if they failed to recognize the part that technology could potentially play in widening the disparity.

Technology- “Antioxidant" or Neurotoxin?

The benefits of technology speak for themselves. There isn’t a rock on this earth that technology has let unturned. It has managed to burrow itself into everything we have, say, or do. For this reason, there really is no reason for me to go on and on about its marvels. It manages to do that for itself quite well.

In contrast, I want to spend some time introducing you to its “Dark Side”. Carr states, “Going online habituates [adolescents] to juvenile mental workouts”. How many times have you been to a new website that just didn’t find it easy or straightforward enough, and took your time elsewhere. We like simple; that’s just how we are. Carr and Bauerlein make the point that our repetitive simple tasks are ridding our brain of our more analytical and critical thinking skills. It’s like spring cleaning going on in our brains. If we don’t use it, just toss it. Because of this reason, Generation Y, or the people who are under the age of 30 are dumping the idea of more linear thinking and adopting a more fragmented style. Anything long and drawn out seems frivolous and boring, thus making it difficult to focus in class, or read that 15 page long article for homework.

Side note: Though the word neurotoxin is used figuratively, lets not forget the literal meaning. It can be loosely defined as something that can cause harm to the brain, or nervous system. Sure all this technology, is all great and fine. It permits to video chat over multiple devices, or talk on the phone without even having our phone close to us. Its uses are as diverse as the tropical rainforest… but what is it really doing to us?

We are constantly surrounded by Bluetooth, infrared, and other signals. Are all these somewhat unexplainable chips, wires, and hybrid metallic compounds affecting our health? Due to the intrepid advancement of technologies, there are virtually no longitudinal or long-term studies. As much as I hate to say it, we are all guinea pigs. It suddenly makes you put down the iPhone or MacBook and pick up the old-fashioned pen and paper, huh? With the amount on time we are exposed to technology is increasing, so is the likelihood so is the likelihood of other problems.

The media has caught on to this phenomena by putting in commercials every 10 minutes or so. A lot of news channel show 2 minute clips of video rather than having the newscaster stand there and read out the news. Newspapers are slowly going extinct; everything is online. A more personal example, I find it so tedious to actually read articles when your given a convenient one paragraph abstract outlining everything.

Do you even think you’re getting “dumber”, or is your ego doing a good job of masking it?

In times like this, people don’t even know that they are progressively being re-wired. In reality, the vast majority of us fail to realize how much of a distraction technology can be with the hundreds of emails and texts we get on daily basis. In my opinion, we as a society are already dependent on technology and there is not much we can do to change that. The best way to alleviate this problem of a more distracted fragmented, and sometimes bored, Generation Y is not to strip them of their gadgets, but to help them strike a good balance. It’s time to put down that Kindle Fire and pick up a real book! Not only will the publishing industry thank you, but those pesky little neurons in your brain will too!

If someone were to ask me, “Is your generation becoming dumber?”, I would respond with a “Yes”. But what worries me a great deal more are the generations that follow. Little kids in my family can’t even walk yet, but can navigate an Ipad 2 like a seasoned adult. What implications do these have for our future? Will playgrounds or Legos even exist? Or will they all be built into the latest and greatest of technology. At least for their health’s sake, I hope Gene therapy catches on soon, I don’t even want to get started talking about childhood obesity. After all, our children are our future, and to be frank, the future is looking a little bleak.