The Dumb Generation Dumb Analysis

The book titled “The Dumbest Generation” published in 2008, written by Mark Bauerlein, who is a “professor of English at Emory University and director of research and analysis at the National Endowment of Arts.” (back cover)

The purpose of this news article was to bring light to a topic that adults and non-millennials probably would not comprehend and or understand otherwise about the current generation and what they gravitate towards. Examples of this could be an elderly parent or grandparent wondering why their child/grandchild loves social media so much or a young person being curious of which app they use the most. The article is mostly focused around college and high school students. The research study further goes on to explain why this trend is happening through questions, graphs, and exact numbers. It goes on

The older generation are relentlessly asking us for help such as how to work a smartphone or how to search up something but they still complain on how useless smartphones are, so this makes millennials believe that the older generation are not very bright . Bare the question, “which generation is actually the “dumb” generation”. Mark Bauerlein a

In chapter one of The Dumbest Generation, Mike Bauerlein makes several statements about our generation and comes to a conclusion that helps set the groundwork for the entire book. His analysis of today’s youth states that the current generation is lacking when it comes to intellectual knowledge. He provides evidence that states that today’s under-thirty population in the United States does not have adequate knowledge, and their lack of knowledge with affect them greatly in their adulthood years.

Along with the progression of society, major advances have been made in hundreds of different fields — particularly technology. Controversy has risen, and debates ensued over whether today's young Americans are really “the dumbest generation,” due to their “money, media, e-gadgets, and career plans” [Source A]. While advances have been made, they have brought with them resources to benefit off of, and ultimately assist in the overall intellect and intelligence of the human race.

In a 2014 article on Psychologytoday.com, Ray Williams informs his audience about the rise of anti-intellectualism in American in an article called: Anti-Intellectualism and the “Dumbing Down” of America. Williams clams that America has suffered in intellectualism because society has dismissed science, the arts, and humanities and have been replaced by media, entertainment, and ignorance. He backs up this claim by citing Susan Jacoby, author of The Age of American Unreason, Pulitzer price winner Richard Hofstadter, author of The Dumbest Generation, Mark Bauerlein, a number of studies and statistics done across the country, and as well as many other authors on this subject. Williams makes bold claims by comparing American education to Japanese,

Am I dumb? Are my friends dumb? Are high school and college students dumb? This is what I think when I hear people talking about how the people, who are under 30, today are “the dumbest generation”. We spend hours and hours a day going to school and completing schoolwork.

The Dumbest Generation There is so much information and technology available to the under 30 generation, however this comes with a cost. In The Dumbest Generation, authors share their opinions on if the under 30 generation is the dumbest and why. This generation has proved itself to be the dumbest because of an over reliance on the abundance of new technology surrounding them, instead of using their knowledge to think on their own. Technology has given the under 30 generation an easy way out, which has resulted in the loss of vital skills that are crucial in everyday life. The under 30 generation is significantly dumber than previous generations, making it the dumbest generation.

Americans today look back and realize how much technology has advanced. The big question is whether this technology is affecting our way of thinking. Or like some authors politicians and older generations say “ dumb.” So why is it that we are considered the dumbest generation, won’t we just grow up and call the next generation dumb? Older generations (over 30) believe that people under 30 are the dumbest generation, but if you think about it that’s what each generation has said about the previous, making it a pointless and incorrect statement said by the elderly.

Essay Many Americans today are extremely familiar with the term “technologies and digital media,” and how they are not helping young Americans with education and general knowledge, which led to the generalization that they are the dumbest generation (Mark Bauerlein). However, according to the articles, The Dumbest Generation?Don’t Be Dumb by Sharon Begley, Is Google Making Us Stupid? By Nicholas Carr, and Living and Learning with New Media: Summary of Findings from the Digital Youth Project, Mizuko Ito et al., the authors all came up with one generalization that technologies and media are helping the young generation in their learning and they are instead, not the dumbest generation. The claim that those under age thirty are “the dumbest generation.”

Through the provocative title, The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future (Or, Don 't Trust Anyone Under 30), Emory University professor, Mark Bauerlein, asserts his thesis. Using statistical information, Bauerlein presents the case that the millennial generation suffers from “Knowledge Deficits” in almost every important subject (11-38). Bauerlein argues bibliophobia (39-69) and distractions caused by technology (71-111) as reasons for the millennial generation’s lack of intellect. Bauerlein further implicates educators, or the mentors (163-203). When educators try to justify the knowledge deficits in millennials by pointing to individualism, Bauerlein ridicules their statements (185).

America nowadays is known as one of the most “techie” countries in the world. But, is that a positive note to have in the United States? According to Mark Bauerlein, an English professor and researcher, no. That is, not a great note because “knowledge and skills haven’t kept pace,” compared to what our ancestors (source 1). But that is their criteria. What if we would test them on our criteria? Would it be the same as if we tested on theirs?Technology does make life easier, but it is our choice to do what we want to do with the technology, we can obtain more knowledge or just simply screw around; honestly speaking: We are not the Dumbest Generation.

This generation has obtained a tremendous amount of accessible information through technology. Technology has progressed during this generation which has corrupted the minds of teens everywhere.

White, Wyn and Robards (2017) refer to a generational approach of understanding how each generation of young people engage with their circumstances providing a framework for understanding youth culture as an expression of generational preoccupations and dispositions and engagement with new communications technologies. Online social networks have become embedded within most young people's everyday lives (Green & Hannon, 2007). When looking at

I am thirty years old, therefor I am in the millennial generation. The millennial generation consists of the individuals born roughly between the years 1980 and 2000 (Ron Zemke, 2013). We are children of the baby boomers and Gen X’s. Millennials are currently the largest living generation, just surpassing the former largest generation, the baby boomers. A distinguishing feature of the millennial generation is that it is the first generation to grow up immersed in technology. We are a widely economic, racial, and ethnically diverse group of young people who offer much to society but are widely misunderstood.