Synthesis - The Dumbest Generation

In our ever-changing world today, things are a lot different than they were a few decades ago. Technology has become a necessity in the majority of American lives. Knowing how to use it is essential, and being considered “tech-savvy” is practically a compliment. Mark Bauerlein, writer of the novel “The Dumbest Generation” refers to the population of people 30 years or younger to be the dumbest. This belief is illogical, for the people themselves are not losing their intelligence -- it is society’s expectations that have changed. What is considered important to know and what is thought to be irrelevant is always changing. The world today is moving at a much faster pace than it used to with the help of technology. This younger generation is not any dumber than previous generations; it is just growing up in a different fashion.

The word ‘dumb’ has such a negative connotation. When someone is referred to as dumb, it means they are incompetent of completing simple tasks or knowing simple answers to simple questions. Bauerlein states that according to research, people of this younger generation have declining “intellectual habits” (Source 1). This is a very large generalization, and it holds little truth. The population today is simply adapting to the constant advances made in technology, learning how to take advantage of them, and use devices to their full purpose. Why waste time looking through a dictionary to find what a word means when you can look it up online in a matter of seconds? There is nothing wrong with making things a little easier, and if that is considered to be dumb then there must be multiple definitions of the word. In the real world, memorizing facts isn’t going to help you be successful, and that should not be a measure of intelligence.

Sharon Begley writes that people continue to possess traits that allow them to “learn and remember, to see analogies, distinguish fact from opinion,” all of which are some of the most important and useful traits one can have (Source 2). To be able to think critically and logically through certain issues is what will ultimately lead to a successful and well-rounded life.

Technology has done more good than bad when referring to its effects on society and our modern world. Take Google for example. Nicholas Carr, writer for the Atlantic magazine notes the search engine’s efficiency. “Once I was a scuba diver in a sea of words. Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a Jet Ski,” Carr says, simply noting the fact that compared to the old way of finding information, Google is a much different experience (Source 4). It is one of the most popular companies, most known for it’s superb search engine. With the click of a button you can find the answer to millions of questions that would’ve taken hours to find in a book or on other print sources. The World Wide Web is a powerful source, allowing us to spend less time searching for what we want to know. If a student were assigned to write a research paper on pandas, using an encyclopedia would be much harder in terms of finding the specific information needed. Some might even assume that a student who is part of “the dumbest generation” has no idea how to use an encyclopedia. But with the new technology it is no longer necessary to flip through the pages of a big book when all the same facts can be found on your computer screen. In the graphic from The New Yorker cover, there is a boy on his computer with headphones on in the middle of a library, surrounded by a multitude of books (Source 8). The message this immediately conveys is a negative one toward the overuse of technology. But who’s to say he isn’t currently researching pandas for his upcoming assignment? Technology is an educational resource, much like an encyclopedia, that when used to it’s full potential, does not make a person dumber.

There is no doubt that society has been greatly changed by this digital revolution. Different ways of thinking should not be seen as inferior to the old ways. New gadgets and gizmos that make finding ideas and communicating your ideas globally are not dumbing down the population, but are making it stronger and more intelligent.