Analysis: The Dumbest Generation

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With new technology evolving every day, encouraging time spent on a computer, phone, or game device, it might be reasonable to assume that the distractions that accompany this technology has caused the younger generation to become “the dumbest generation.” It seems as though the constant stream of information which such technology provides should increase knowledge, however according to the 2007 Pew survey on “What Americans Know: 1989-2007,” 56 percent of people between 18 and 29 years show low knowledge levels (Bauerlein, 2008). Other research however, shows that this age group does not lack knowledge, but rather, it values different information as important (Begley, 2010). Although there is some support for the argument that the youngest …show more content…
Acknowledging some advantages of technology, Bauerlein argues that they fail to produce intellectual outcomes, arguing that younger people know far less than people over the age of 50. This claim is ignorant, however, of the changing values to which people put on knowledge, skill, and time. People under thirty might not know the names of composers from the eighteenth century, however most people in this younger generation do know how to operate most pieces of technology, including computers, cell phones, tablets, etc. This also represents the changing of skills among the different generations. My mother, for example, does not know how to open a new tab while surfing the internet, whereas I knew how to manage a computer and all its little functions when I was in elementary school. These skills, which some may call meaningless, are quite the opposite for this younger generation. In schools, computers are often mandatory and it has become a vital skill to know how to handle this …show more content…
It may not be that the youngest generation knows less than previous generations, but simply that it knows different information. In “The Dumbest Generation? Don’t Be Dumb” by Sharon Begley, she claims that the information which Generation Y chooses to retain also has much to do with the environment which surrounds this group of individuals. The lack of knowledge of historical and political affairs shown by 2005 college freshman is “more a reflection of the world outside [of their] heads” than within (Begley, 2010). The media and social environments that surround people under thirty has a great influence on the information these individuals choose to learn and remember because they are essentially being told by media, advertisements, and campaigns was is important to know and what is not. Technology has only increased this reliance on media for information. For example, many popular websites, such as yahoo.com, have short articles that summarize important recent events in a way that readers can quickly and easily get current information. Because these stories are the ones being shared across the internet, viewers assume that they are important and choose to read and learn from the articles. In this way, media and environment has an immense impact on the knowledge which this younger generation chooses to
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