I can't argue with the fact that my generation has the world at our fingertips. We can find anything we want to in a matter of seconds using a computer. But Mark Bauerlein has made a very steep assumption by saying we're the "dumbest" generation, we're simply the most privileged. Give any teenager in any time period access to all the technology we have access to and do you think they would handle it any differently? I really doubt it. Although i agree that many teenagers are abusing the technology we have by using it for gaming and other enjoyable things more than they probably should, a lot of students are using the same technology to further their education and try to gain a better knowledge of the world. How is it we're the "dumbest" generation if by following the Flynn Effect , our generation scores , on average, 15 points or one standard deviation higher on an IQ test than the pervious generation? As Bauerlein said, " Never have the opportunities for education, learning, political action, and cultural activity been greater." He's right, we do have more than enough opportunities and a lot of people take advantage of them every day. Like right now, while I'm typing up this blog, I'm proving Bauerlein wrong. As Olivia said in here blog , "Everybody's participation in class today made me realize that Bauerlein doesn't know anything about us [the supposed "dumbest generation"]."
His attitude is the stereotypical old man on the porch ( which was said in class today). "Going online habituates them to juvenile mental habits."- Bauerlien. Are you serious? Haha I guess the next time I'm writing a paper for a class, i shouldn't use the millions of sources on the internet because i MAY become distracted like some teenagers do on the net. Almost everything he said sounds like an over-exaggeration. Maybe he said it to provoke change? Maybe he said it to be an asshole? Either way, I believe in some of the things Bauerlein is saying, just not to the extent he's saying them. Students should learn to balance school and free time, and should understand how to take advantage of all the information in front of us. Does anybody else feel the same way? I know i have my own problems sometimes balancing work and play haha
I think we all have difficulty balancing work and play...that's the nature of the beast. It's not just "teenagers" who have trouble thwarting distractions while online. The Internet is set up (and read) in such a way that it's almost impossible to read an entire document without clicking on a related link. (Your blog is a good example of this :)
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, he just doesn't seem to understand us. I can easily go online research for a paper and not be distracted (and I am pretty sure that goes for the majority). I think that today in this technology savvy world we live in we must learn how to be responsible and balance it but any person in any given generation had to do the same thing. I think he just wanted to sell his book which is why he took some of the things he said to new extremes but honestly he needs to get over it.
ReplyDeleteWhat you're saying is so true! We use the internet everyday not only for gaming but to get our school assignments, to read web articles. Would we be able to be talk in class about any contriversial subject well without this technology? I don't think so. As our proffesor stated above, we do need to balance work and play. I'm confident that we aren't the only generation (at least more "recently") that has sturggled with this.
ReplyDeleteI am going to argue and say that I think we are exposed to more distracts because of the internet. But that's how it was designed and it works. It's hard to try and do research on even an academic search engine without clicking a new tab and typing "facebook.com". It takes a discipline that few have. But even with all these distracts we still manage to get the work done with (hopefully) quality. I think it's nice to be able to take a 5 minute break and go back at the task with renewed attention, focus and determination.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, I think that if there was all this technology in another era they would probably use it in the same way we do
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