Intelligence In Mark Bauerlein's The Dumbest Generation

What comes to mind when you think of the terms “dumb” and “intelligent”? Personally, I associate dumb with someone or something that does an action that is perceived as irrational or reckless to themselves or others. While intelligence itself is linked with someone who is in AP rather than in average. Even Though there have been many generations before ours, some have deemed us the dumbest generation to exist, while others have come to the conclusion that we are actually the smartest and most advanced generation to this day.

When you Google “millennials are…” the search engine will finish off this sentence with words like lazy, dumb, stupid, and selfish. Basically we perceived as the modern version of the seven deadly sins. Perhaps the biggest notioned flaw of our generation is our dependency on technology. However, while we are dependent on our technology, we are very tech savy.

Being so advanced technologically, millennials are simply taking advantage of the technology they have been lucky to grow up with.

Mark Bauerlein in his article “The Dumbest Generation” argues that technology decreases intelligence because we rely on it rather than our own memory or imagination. Bauerlein stresses in regards to the nature of Internet itself that teenagers, "seek out what they already hope to find, and they want it fast and free, with a minimum of effort.” (Source A)

Keeping the controversy running, Sharon Begley in her piece, ‘The Dumbest Generation? Don’t Be Dumb’; qualifies Bauerlein’s claim by explaining that “Generation Y cares less about knowing information because they know that they can use their technological skills to find it.” (Source B)

This generation has been digitally wired from their early childhood, which has eventually pushed the grown-ups in charge to be overwhelmed and overmatched, making them always a step