Technology is an element of human existence that evolves according to generational progression. Every generation has approached technology and how it impacts their lives quite differently. Younger generations incessantly express their impatience with their predecessor’s deliberateness to integrate innovative technologies into their daily lives, while their predecessors are bewildered as to why their successors are so eager to incorporate such raw technologies. The common terminology used for this difference of opinion is known as a “generational gap”. Historically, we can observe this dispute through the information revolution initiated by Johannes Guttenberg, the inventor of the printing press. Guttenberg’s invention resulted in chaos, upheaval, and great apprehension from the elder generations of this time. No longer was it necessary for individuals to adhere to the priest’s words, people were therefore able to read text and formulate their personal interpretations for the first time in history. There have undeniably been colossal advancements in virtually every aspect of human life since the advent of Guttenberg’s printing press. However, this prodigious evolutionary leap produced relatively identical responses comparable to what modern society recognizes as the digital revolution. Within the digital revolution emerged digital technologies that have surpassed the most radical visions that prior generations had devised. Modern society currently acknowledges that the progression of the digital revolution is advancing at incredible speeds and consequently a significant generational gap has once again emerged. Today’s gap is the result of our youngest generation’s complete upbringing into the world of digital technology....
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...nstant shifting of our attention when we’re online may make our brains more nimble when it comes to multitasking, but improving our ability to multitask actually hampers our ability to think deeply and creatively.” (Carr, 140) and “While Net Geners may learn to switch focus on more quickly than their parents do, that doesn’t mean they’ll be able to think more creatively or more deeply about a complicated issue.” (Tapscott, 108) However, acknowledging that digital native’s brains are different requires the understanding that the learning methods as to which digital immigrants succeeded in will no longer suffice. The methods used for education cannot remain analogous to the past. It is a necessity that education evolves in conjunction with the evolution of the human brain; otherwise, education will be less than adequate and become irrelevant to modern society.
The internet is our conduit for accessing a wide variety of information. In his article, “Is Google Making Us Stupid,” Nicholas Carr discusses how the use of the internet affects our thought process in being unable to focus on books or longer pieces of writing. The author feels that “someone, or something, has been tinkering with [his] brain” over the past few years (Carr 731). While he was easily able to delve into books and longer articles, Carr noticed a change in his research techniques after starting to use the internet. He found that his “concentration often [started] to drift after two or three pages” and it was a struggle to go back to the text (Carr 732). His assertion is that the neural circuits in his brain have changed as a result of surfing endlessly on the internet doing research. He supports this statement by explaining how his fellow writers have had similar experiences in being unable to maintain their concentrations. In analyzing Carr’s argument, I disagree that the internet is slowly degrading our capacity for deep reading and thinking, thereby making us dumber. The Web and Google, indeed, are making us smarter by allowing us access to information through a rapid exchange of ideas and promoting the creativity and individualization of learning.
The earliest memory of my using a computer comes from when I was around four years-old; my grandmother sat me in front of a clunky, large desktop running off of Windows 95. It was like it was love at first site, and now it feels as if I’ve always had this sort of love-affair with computers. Technology is something that changes every day. From computers to eReaders it’s as if each time we turn the corner, there is some new update waiting to be downloaded or installed. For some this is no issue, yet for others it’s a massive inconvenience. The latter is left wondering why the current generation is so dependent on technology, or why more and more people prefer to read from a Kindle or Nook rather than “old-fashioned” books. For people with these questions, I strongly advise reading “Lazy Eyes” by Michael Agger, as it not only provides information that’s useful and thought-provoking; it manages to be funny at the same time while Sherry Turkle’s “How Computers Change the Way We Think” is dull, dated, and doesn’t provide any sort of helpful information.
Atlantic journalist Nicholas Carr confesses that he feels something has been “tinkering with his brain.” The internet, he fears, may be messing with our minds. We have lost the ability to focus on a simple task, and memory retention is steadily declining. He is worried about the effect the internet has on the human brain, and where it may take us in the future. In response to this article, Jamais Cascio, also a journalist for the Atlantic, provides his stance on the issue. He argues that this different way of thinking is an adaptation derived from our environment. Ultimately, he thinks that this staccato way of thinking is simply a natural evolution, one that will help to advance the human race.
Technology has become a pivotal factor in human history. It has helped build and develop the modern society we see today. However, the more recent and advanced technology is becoming, it is also making a change for the worst as well. Ray Bradbury is trying to show us that technology can consume a human beings life. Whether it is in construction, a factory, or the food industry etc., technology has impressed society to the point of replacing humans in the workforce. Not only has technology negatively affected the adults working in our society, but it has also impacted the development of children in this new generation of smartphones and tablets. Most millennials probably remember the generation above them saying “back in my day we didn't have
Technology has always been at the forefront of the world’s mind, for as long as anyone can remember. The idea of “advancing” has been a consistent goal among developers. However, recently the invention of smartphones broke out into the world of technology, causing millions of people to become encapsulated in a world of knowledge at their fingertips. Jean Twenge elaborates on the impacts of the smartphone on the younger generation in her article “Has the Smartphone Destroyed a Generation?” Twenge’s article is just a sliver of the analysis that she presents in her book “IGen.” Twenge, a professor of psychology at San
In the essay “ Does the Internet Make you Smarter or Dumber?”, Nicholas Carr provides information on how the internet is making human kind into scattered and superficial thinkers. Carr goes on to explain that being online can influence our cognitive abilities. Some of those cognitive skills can be strengthen but when some strengthen some are weakened, just a few including mindfulness, critical thinking, and imagination. Carr talks about the ill effects of computers and cellphones, that the ill effects don’t go away. The thing we seem to be sacrificing, according to Carr, is engaging in quiet, attentive modes of thought. Whereas the internet makes our brains scattered, a book focuses it. Carr states that reading a book helps us develop a rare
The author claims that the working of a human brain is deeply affected by the technological advances of the current age. Closely administered behavior of Digital Natives reveals that they have sharper cognitive skills as compared to the Digital Immigrants of the previous generation. She begins by quoting Palfrey and Gasser as her counter-argument, who acknowledge the difference between the current and previous generations, thus: “These kids are different. They study, work, write and interact with each other in ways that are very different from the ways that you di...
Technology is one of the most important things in everyone’s life. Technology improves every day. in regards to today’s youth, they were born with all the new technological inventions as opposed to our parents. In “Quality Time, Redefined” by Alex Williams, published in the New York Times, the author talks about the positive and negative effects on technology. I enjoyed this reading because it related my personal day to day life. Even though some Americans acknowledge that technology is a part of their everyday life, they do not see the negative outcome of technology, they are blinded only by the positive aspects.
In today's world, technology is constantly changing from a new paperclip to an improvement in hospital machinery. Technology lets people improve the way they live so that they can preserve their own personal energy and focus on the really important factors in life. Some people focus their energy on making new innovations to improve transportation and the health of people that may save lives and some people focus on making new designs of packaging CDS. Technology is significant in everyone's life because it rapidly changes what is in the market. But, some new innovations of technology are ridiculous because they serve no purpose in helping mankind.
Digital Nation. The Frontline video, Digital Nation, asks an interesting question, just what is happening here? Rachel Dretzin and Douglass Rushkoff walk the viewer through technology that is everywhere in the world. They delve into the lives of MIT students, who are among the smartest in this generation. Sherry Turkle, a Professor at MIT touches on how technology has “changed the way teachers teach” (qtd. in Digital Nation). However, Turkle also takes a strong stance against multitasking, which brings the video to California, where Professor Clifford Nass of Stanford University has been studying the ability to multitask.
Carr (2010) writes about how the Internet makes us less intelligent in his article “Does the internet make you dumber?”. He states that the Net causes distractions and leads to lack of focus, and also it is turning us into shallower thinkers. Carr argues that the Net has bad effects on our brain and different media technologies impact negatively on how the brain works. He believes that using screen-based media leads to the brain’s weaknesses in cognitive processes because of following only a specific instruction. Moreover, Carr talks about how multitasking makes it difficult for us to sustain concentration. Two important issues from the article that I would like to discuss are Carr’s statements on how multitaskers distract easily and how the
We all know technology has taken over us without even noticing it. Although technology has changed throughout these years, it has had its good perks in many reasons such as making our lives easier with just one single click. However, because of this, it has lacked us from actually doing some research or actually trying to educate ourselves mentally and physically. In the sources below, we will notice how technology has had somewhat of an affect on why we might be the ¨dumbest generation¨ as questioned. Each source is being said in the authors own perspective and what they think lead to us being the dumbest generation.
It is common to notice that the internet has rewired our brain into multitasking much more than before. However, it was concluded after numerous studies that this kind of digital multitasking does not make us smarter or more swift in our activities, but quite on the contrary negatively impacts our academic performance. A more scientific aspect of why our brain is affected by the large sea of information that is available to us is touched upon by Eric Jaffe. The writer explains that “the barrage of new media distractions is placing new demands on cognitive processing, and especially on attention allocation […] While cause-and-effect is difficult to parse here, in some sense it doesn’t matter. If all this digital media is causing people to multi-task
In the recent discussions of the Internet and its effect on its users, a controversial issue has been whether or not the Internet usage is affecting our cognitive abilities. On one hand, some argue that the Internet is weakening our capacity for concentration and contemplation. Specifically, Nicholas Carr argues that excessive Internet use is leading to a lack of deep thinking and focus. On the other hand, however, others argue that the Internet combined with human brain power is beneficial rather than harmful. In the words of New York Times author, Clive Thompson, one of this view’s main proponents, “But our digital tools can also leave us smarter even when we’re not actively using them.” According to this view, this issue needs to be addressed
Today, Americans are faced with the increasing change of technology in our everyday life. Sometimes the change happens and we do not realize how it affects our lives. I think it is always a good idea to talk to someone that is older than yourself, like your grandparents to remind you of the times in their younger years. Hopefully, that will open your eyes to the changes we face in this generation and the generation to come. In this chapter, the author explores the relationship of changing technology to changes in both the environment and social institutions.