ipl-logo

The Dumbest Generation By Mark Bauerlein

1354 Words6 Pages

The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future(Or, Don 't Trust Anyone Under 30) by Mark Bauerlein is a commentary on the culture of Generation Y and its lack of basic knowledge and intelligence in a society inundated with easily accessible information. At the dawn of the digital age, those who had navigated adolescence and adulthood without the aid of the internet looked on to the forthcoming generation with eyes full of hope, anticipating an influx of well-educated, web-savvy children ready to fix the world. These hopeful gazes, according to Bauerlein, were met with an uneducated mass of bobble heads lacking basic knowledge engrossed solely in the lives of other teens or twenty-somethings. …show more content…

The conclusion that this age group is dumb is not incorrect, but the conclusion that this group is dumber than others is incorrect. He shows little evidence that the stats are more shocking than they would be for other groups. When Bauerlein does make a comparison concluding that all the generations are uneducated, he flips by stating that because this generation has so much access to information and isn’t using it properly that they are even dumber in comparison simply because they have more options to learn. Basically, this is Bauerlein saying since this generation isn’t as smart as he thinks they should be they are actually dumber that they ought to be. His focus is myopic and misinformed, since there is no impartial, accurate comparison provided. These arguments are also slightly outdated since the book was written in 2008. He wrote this before Twitter or Instagram blew up online and began to be a platform for news and political campaigning. What Bauerlein has in statistics and evidence, he lacks in tact and objectivity. He is clumping and entire bracket of people into this cross between Britney Spears and Justin Bieber, insulting the large proportion of those who actually enjoy books and the news and who don’t base their worth on the amount of followers they have or the kind of shoes they wear. For decades the older people have been ranting on and on about the failings of the youth blaming it on rock music, not working in factories for sixteen hours a day, comic books, and now video games and technology alike. This novel simply adds to the ever widening chasm separating the old from the young. The education system has been failing for years and that was not initiated by Twitter or shooter games. These arguments are simply a knee jerk fear reaction to the uncertainty of the nation’s future. This is something

Show More
Related

  • Rhetorical Analysis Of 'Digital Natives Invade The Workspace'

    602 Words  | 3 Pages

    The digital age has skyrocketed in the last couple of years, some were born into it and most witnessed it. These people had to adapt and use it to their advantage in the evolving workforce. After time went on, they integrated their methods into their systems and kept old habits. Years later, the kids born into this age started to join in and bring their new habits that were unfamiliar to the current workforce. The article written by Lee Rainie on his Pew-Research webpage in 2006, "Digital Natives Invade the Workspace" analyzes the changes they brought it.

    Read More

  • Blue Collar Boomers Take Work Ethics To College

    397 Words  | 2 Pages

    Sander uses statistics such as a study conducted by the MetLife Foundation that found 66 percent of adults age 50-59 planned on working past retirement age to explain the rising situation. Furthermore, Sander uses scholars with relevant groups such as the Council of Education, to the boomers who are enrolling in college to inform the reader of the rise in boomers enrolling in college. This is the most significant part of her argument as it gives a face to the statistics she just presented, weather that be a scholar in the field such as community college presidents or the boomers who have enrolled in higher education such as Russel Kearney, whom Sander uses to begin her

    Read More

  • Steven Johnson Everything Bad Is Good For You Analysis

    1563 Words  | 7 Pages

    As a journalist, media theorist, and author of Everything Bad Is Good for You, Steven Johnson is a formidable activist for the most revolutionary technological achievement to date; the internet. In “Dawn of the digital natives,” an article in the Guardian, Johnson urges readers to look at the positive impact of the new electronic media age and critically at the National Endowment for the Arts study “To Read or Not to Read” that provoked a panic about the decline of reading. However, Nicholas Carr, a 2011 Pulitzer Prize finalist, shares his testimony of how his internet usage of more than a decade has eroded his capacity to concentrate and contemplate. Although the two articles were published in 2008, before the explosion of smartphone sales in 2012, the presence of social media, YouTube, and smartphones increased sensitivity to the issue. Consequently, this sensitivity might make readers more receptive to opinions about these new technologies.

    Read More

  • Rhetorical Analysis Of Generation Velcro

    986 Words  | 4 Pages

    A Rhetorical analysis of “Generation Velcro” In “Generation Velcro,” Dorothy Woodend discusses the lack of basic skills and knowledge that is being passed down from generation to generation, and how this could be a fundamental problem for both generation Y and the future of planet earth. Woodend, setting the tone for her article, asks the question, “[i]s this generation heading into a coming dark age with little more than the ability to update their Facebook statuses and watch YouTube, all with laces untied?” (par. 7). She contends that “[t]he inability to concentrate in a world of competing bits of information and constant multitasking have led to brains that can no longer keep up,” implying that this problem of concentration is inhibiting this newest generation’s ability to learn the skills necessary to sustain our world properly (par. 12).

    Read More

  • Senioritis

    735 Words  | 3 Pages

    The argument states that seniors have been in high school for three years prior and therefore they know the ropes but the author fails to adequately address how this ties into the claim. This argument is a straw man one, it does not fit the contention but discusses a topic that is easier to support. “It is not what seniors are looking for,” is the only part of this paragraph that addresses the topic of senioritis, this weakens the paper and takes away from the main focus of the article because the author fails to stay on topic. No sources, no statistics are used and the argument leans more toward explaining, telling the reader instead of showing. There is no narrative to describe the topic making the essay boring to read and leaves the reader feeling as the author is simply taking at he/she.

    Read More

  • Louis Ck's 'On The Tonight Show With Conan O' Brien

    570 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Generation of Today Today’s generation was described by Louis C.K. as “Spoiled idiots.” On The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien, Louis C.K. gave his opinion on the generation that grew up with internet, phones, and more modern luxuries. He complains about how we are too impatient when technology doesn’t live up to its standards and I agree with him. Today’s generation are very spoiled and take technology and other conveniences for granted. Almost everyone has access to internet today.

    Read More

  • Hidden Intellectualism Gerald Graff Analysis

    745 Words  | 3 Pages

    “Hidden Intellectualism,” by Gerald Graff starts off with an older argument between being book smart and street smart. Throughout the reading, Graff uses his own life experiences to critique the education system today. Points made focus on the idea of overlooking the intellectual potential of those who come across as being, “street smart”. Different authors cited in the reading to show how to accept another’s different intellectual. However, we realize that people who come across as being intellectual weren’t always labeled as that.

    Read More

  • Gen Y's Influence On Art And Politics

    1416 Words  | 6 Pages

    People born between the 1980s-2000 are known as Gen Y. They are “known” to be people who have become so self-absorbed, developed an addiction to not be themselves on social media, and to not care for anything else that does not involve them. Majority, if not all, of Gen Y’s is on social media and have shown a bigger interest in “self-love”. However, as the years go by, more of them have started to “do politics” in a different way. Many have adopted it as a hobby or many now view it as their “part-time” job.

    Read More

  • Have Smartphones Destroyed A Generation: Article Analysis

    711 Words  | 3 Pages

    The omnipresence of the smartphone affects adolescents in every section of the United States, regardless of social class and ethnic background. Jean Twenge established ethos when he stated,“he had been studying generational differences for 25 years and that he started when was a 22 year old doctoral student in psychology”(2). Since he has been studying different generations for many years he knows

    Read More

  • In Defence Of The Igeneration By Renee Wilson

    658 Words  | 3 Pages

    This demonstrates the primary way to reach the iGeneration, which is through self- actualization. Her personal experiences create an informal tone that the readers can connect with on a personal level and this effectively promotes her argument. These real-life experiences allow the reader to relate to the issue personally and deepen their understanding of the argument. Through Wilson’s experiences, she gains a better understanding of the generation and can appreciate the beauty behind technology. Her change in attitude towards the generation demonstrates that a deeper understanding of the generation is necessary to appreciate the greatness of this generation.

    Read More

  • Andrea Lunsford's Our Semi-Literate Youth? Not So Fast

    872 Words  | 4 Pages

    The reason Lunsford includes this account of events is because it proves that while mass media might seem like its dumbing down the younger generation it is actually teaching them different kinds of writing and when to use different contexts. Although Lunsford provides great research, mass medias effects are not simply grounded in

    Read More

  • The Dumbest Generation Summary

    341 Words  | 2 Pages

    Mark Bauerlein, author of ‘The Dumbest Generation’, argues that today’s youth has had a decline in academics due to new technology in today’s economy. In retrospect, we’re growing up in a different time than the generation before us; the world and it’s products are different as to be expected, and with them we must learn new materials than they did. Today’s generation isn’t ‘dumb’, instead we’re adjusting to the times and retaining different knowledge than the generations before us. Many older generations always thinks that the generation after theirs is ‘dumber’, and think themselves to be the superior one.

    Read More

  • Joel Stein's The New Greatest Generation

    599 Words  | 3 Pages

    Me-llennials In “The New Greatest Generation,” Joel Steins focuses on his opinion that millennials are “lazy, entitled, selfish and shallow”(Stein). Stein argues that millennials are narcissistic and self-entitled. Also, that technology is weakening millennials brains. He believes that with each generation it get lazier.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Me Me Me Generation By Joel Stein

    605 Words  | 3 Pages

    The article “The Me Me Me Generation” by Joel Stein mentions how Millennials are a self-centred generation who have been raised with many participation awards and parents who mistakenly believed that strengthening their self-esteem was they key to success rather than focusing more on strengthening up their character and skills. Stein mentions that the younger generation lives mostly through screens, whether those on phones, iPad’s, or computers, and believes someway that it is entitled to success without experiencing the rough situations in lifetime. Stein also presented studies showing that the incidence of narcissistic personality disorder among Millennials is massive. Stein concludes the article by mentioning that this has not taken him by surprise, because this began with their parents’ generation, the Baby Boomers, or known as the “Me Generation.” Millennials seek to make their own mark on the world.

    Read More

  • Causes Of Generation Gap Essay

    917 Words  | 4 Pages

    The generation gap is the process of desolation of understanding between people of different age category. It influences such various areas as preferences and ideology that cannot leave the world indifferent. There is common belief that people avoid each other only in order not to have a conversation where the big argument could appear. Thus, this essay will help thousands of people to identify the cause; of generation gap 's appearance and its effect on society, which, by observing all the factors, can combat the misunderstanding amongst the generations. One should note here that the history turns back to the 1960, where first "baby boomers" appeared.

    Read More

More about The Dumbest Generation By Mark Bauerlein

Open Document