1. They make excellent "Jaywalking'' targets
Bauerlein writes:
"The ignorance is hard to believe ... It isn't enough to say that these young people are uninterested in world realities. They are actively cut off from them. ... They are encased in more immediate realities that shut out conditions beyond -- friends, work, clothes, cars, pop music, sitcoms, Facebook.''
(you guys are going to love #2 - Mr. O)
Bauerlein writes:
"The ignorance is hard to believe ... It isn't enough to say that these young people are uninterested in world realities. They are actively cut off from them. ... They are encased in more immediate realities that shut out conditions beyond -- friends, work, clothes, cars, pop music, sitcoms, Facebook.''
(you guys are going to love #2 - Mr. O)
38 comments:
Personally, I don't really care what happens around on the other side of the world, it's not my fault, I just don't care and some people do, it's just them. So, this makes it unfair that the author is saying all of us don't care about realities and replace them with Facebook or Twitter or XBox, ect. Because I know a few adults who don't give a s*** about what happens anywhere else but where they live. On the other hand you kinda have to understand why he thinks that though. Most people our age don't care about anything but what might possibly effect them, someone they know or something happening close to them or if they have an opinion about whatever. We are all about computers (Facebook and Tumblr,ect.) but it's not okay to call a whole generation stupid because he doesn't even know what we are capable of.
I find it unfair when he says the all young people are ignorant and the we're basically stupid and don't know anything about our history. Yes , young people like me use FB and you tube and etc, but that doesn't mean we don't know the last book we read.
And i would like to say teachers and adults are just as responsible as us kids are. After all they were the ones raising us, it's not like we got this attitude from a cold , we got from adults that are lazy to teach us what we need in life.
Also , he thinks that just cause' we don't read a lot means that we're "stupid" but we're not. we (young people) read a lot. We read on facebook and google and etc , so we can use facebook against him at a certain degree
First of all, the generation before us invented most of todays technology that distracts us from doing whats important. So the book is basically acussing us for their mistake! The generation before us put a computer in front of us, satellite TV, Xbox, Cellphones and THOUSANDS of others. *FACT* Over 70% of the technology in our house is for entertainment. Well who constructs, then sells, then buys, then installs it in our homes? Infact, your generation(Mr.Oickle) raised us to be hopeless and miserable if the power goes out. Thats what really pisses me off. It isn't our fault we're uninvolved. If our and your generation switched places, it would be the same as it is today. If we put Shopping Malls,*Your favorite TV show/movie* and everything in the list before, you would be just as ignorant. I truly believe this Bauerlein guy is off to lunch, and had a little to many while writing this book. I believe hes the ignorant one. I think he should get his facts straight before writing an insulting book to our generation.
And I agree with Maddie. The part where she writes " We replace realities with Twitter and Xbox. What the generation before is did is like PUTTING A CHOCOLATE CAKE IN FRONT OF US AND ACCUSING US FOR EATING IT.
First things first, I just want to mention that this book is about American teens. Just saying...
But back to the point, generalization much? Like people have already said, some people keep track of what goes on around the world and some people don't. Does the author even think when he starts writing? It's nice to know about world history, but it's not the end of the world if you don't. But, in some cases, it could. Like, knowing about Libya, for example, let's say Gaddafi rules the country again. Nato and UN might have to take action, so they send in troops. Libya has nuclear weapons and suddenly, there's war. What happens in one place affects another. What if the Libyan send bombs to even here, or in the U.S.? That is a situation where it is important to know about the world. On the cover it says something like how the digital age is stupefying us. Sure most of us don't read newspapers, but now, the internet is our news provider. But then again, who will update it? There are more consumers then producers...
Bottom line is, don't call ALL of us ignorant. This is some old guy writing this book and he thinks that newspapers are the way to go. He hasn't evolved with the world like the so-called "dumbest generation" has. He is entitled to his point of view, but still, think before you write!
ok first of all, this guy is STUUPID! like, just because i have internet and all that doesnt mean im 'cut off from world realities' or whatever. i agree with what maddie said, I DONT CARE about all that random crap that happens in random places, ok? and its not just kids like us who dont care, alotta dults are like that too. and seriously, its unfair to judge a whole generation about that, because not EVERYONE is like that. and ya, HIS generation created all this for us! you know what, i bet he's just JEALOUS that we all this cool stuff and HE didnt!! and you mr. author person, this is the FUTURE now, get used to it. why should we keep living i OLDEN days?! why cant we just live our lives without being accused of being dumb just because we have friends and clothes and pop music and sitcoms and facebook. seriously, whats wrong with pop music??
(btw eric, looved that metaphor about chocolate cake!) ;)
I disagree with the statement made by Mr Whats-his-face, but only partially. Whether he likes it or not, it will be this generation that will lead the world, and this will be perhaps the most important generation in the worlds history; the world is on the brink of environmental destruction, and only we can do something about it. And every single problem in the world is man-made. And we must understand that we are part of that generation. I think some people (Maddie :P) under-estimate the power we have; we can save this earth, political, environmentally and educational, because if you don't know already, the world isn't a very merry place, at the moment. We can save it, or we can very much throw it away, by being ignorant to the world. I disagree with people saying that the past is completely useless, that history is useless and that nothing can be learned from it. In fact, the future is made from the past, by refining it, by learning from it, constantly reviewing and improving (and understanding) what came before. That's the base for every invention in the world, improving on what was before it. All the technology in this world can't save us, or improve us if we don't use it correctly. In my opinion, the Internet is the greatest invention ever made, but just like countless great inventions, it can be used for the good OR bad. It should make us the opposite, not ignorant to the world, but more knowledgeable and insightful to the world, because everything is available, in the click of a button. But only if we choose. One thing i know is for sure. We can't just say, and argue and demean the statement that we are the dumbest generation. We have to do something about it, duh. We have to prove to them that we can turn the web into an educational and insightful tool, as well for entertainment.
It's not just The United States Rohini? The 2010 list of countries by GDP from International Monetary Fund (basically a measure of a countries overall economic output) ("or the market value of all final goods and services made within the borders of a country in a year") says that USA is 6th best and Canada is only at eleven. I also read this from Wikipedia - "The literacy rate of Canada, being almost 99% in 2003, has declined, and will be under world's average literacy rates for adults in the next two decades, depending on the rate of declining."
I disagree with him saying that we are shut off from the outside world because he even says himself, we spend so much time on Facebook, and social networking sites, which is the biggest media 'outlet' nowadays. In the first chapter he evens writes we spend three hours average watching television, another huge media outlet. Contradiction much.
I also strongly believe that to be successful in life knowing facts like who invented the lightbulb, and where the Pope lives, (completely unuseful for non-Catholics), does not depend on exactly how much knowledge, but on 1, industriousness and being able to work hard, 2, having enough social skills,. You might have known 100 numbers of pie when you were 3, and you might spend every waking moment on enjoyable school work, but if you cannot interpret basic social skills you will not go any where in life.
There are some things like knowing who invented the lightbulb, (in chapter one), that really won't help you.
@ERIC. "the generation before us invented most of todays technology that distracts us from doing whats important. So the book is basically acussing us for their mistake! The generation before us put a computer in front of us, satellite TV, Xbox, Cellphones and THOUSANDS of others."
That isn't entirely true. Yes, it was given to us by the last generation. But they didn't teach us how to miss-use it. Cellphones were for emergency communication, but now its turned into an everyday device, and used WAY too much. Facebook? That was invented for College students in the US to keep in touch, and share idea's and work. Computers? They were made to calculate SUPER hard math problems and the likes. But now we have changed these items, with no discretion and we have miss-used them and evolved them ( witch isn't all our fault) but still. So whining about stuff like this isn't exactly gonna get us somewhere, we have to change the way we have been taught and teach the NEXT generation differently.
But Raj. Who tought us to use facebook? Who tought how we should use a cellphone? We we're tought to misuse technology. And Raj, I'm not whining, I'm expressing my opinion on the blog. So Raj, our parents buy all this stuff around our house which we use to our advantage. In the 1950's( I'm not sure if I'm going to get my facts straight here) the technology around our house were Lights, Radio, Oven and Stove and running water. There weren't many ways to MISUSE those devices. But in todays age, theres COUNTLESS ways to misuse technology. And Raj, you forgot something. CALL OF DUTY. Was that invented to be used to our advantage? Unlikely. TO BE CONTINUED... bedtime
I think that spending time on Halo or Call of Duty, or video games in general is sort of pathetic in my opinion, since it's all 'fake' and virtual. Nothing will happen in reality if you beat a certain level anyways. It also means that you probably wouldn't have time for most of the important things in life and education. Same with FB. i have Facebook because I actually use it to, lol, "keep in touch", with friends and not to play things like "Farmville" and do quiz's like "How much swag do you have today". Instead of getting some random percentage that tells you apparently, "How much swag you have today" you could be doing something that will help you later in life like math. Things like Chat and MSN, I only use them if I need to ask someone something because the constant need to be able to communicate with your friends is pathetic aussi.
But I think it has alot to do with the generation before us, AKA our parents. Our parents our the only ones that are able to tell us what and what not to do.
CONTINUED:@Raj: What about the cellphone? It was originally meant for emergencies, but what about today? Are we still stuck with 4 pound cellphones with tiny screens? Think of what they're used for now. The Iphone is a great example. Sure, the Iphone may have millions of helpful apps, but compared to the apps for playing around, the helpful apps would be a sliver on the pie chart.
And Raj, you are right about the computers, but who uses computers these days? No one uses a computer for math problems anymore! Today computers are used for INTERNET.
Like I said before, In the 1950's, the only ways to slack off on important homework, chores etc were to play with friends or read a book. But in todays age. Theres infinite possibilities. We didn't create these infinite possibilities! Thats what generations before us did.
@ERIC Sorry about the whining comment, it wasn't directly to you, but more to like everyone who continually blames the last generation. It is in MANY ways their fault, probably more than it is ours. But after all, if we aren't the dumbest generation, then we should have enough sense to know when to stop. We can't continue with the lifestyle we have, and just blame everyone else, because there comes a point where we can make our own decisions and we have to take credit for everything we do. I agree with Claire alot, because Facebook COULD be used for ALOT of good things, but it just isn't. And lool, Eric, btw, its OUR generation that started miss-using Facebook, and Cellphones, and Computers. It wasn't like this, even 15 YEARS ago.... I'm pretty sure your parents don't go on Facebook for 2 hours a day. Or do your parents text 24/7? How bout do your parents play all the latest video games? Yes, they do give us all of these stuff to use, and they DID create it, but more often then not, they didn;t teach us how to miss-use it. Eric, the entertainment business is one of the most lucrative business' in the world. But if their were no consumers, what will happen? Lets say we stopped using video games, cellphones ETC. for our advantage. Say we simply stopped buying them. What happens? The whole market changes. They won't have anyone buying it, so they'll stop producing it. In other words, if we were to stop using stuff like the way we do, not completely but for all the bad reasons, then everything would change.
Yeah, lets just leave it at that. THE ENTERTAINMENT BUISNESS IS EVIL!
I agree and disagree. As you see Maddie and Lydia don’t give a crap about current events. Some of us do, like me; I read the paper every so often to see what the major headlines are. I disagree though because I used Facebook the morning of Japan and Hawaii. FB was the thing that told me about the earthquake and tsunami. If fb hadn’t had a post about it I would of gone crazy at school and asked a bunch of question. I agree though because most of us clearly don’t care, we do focus on ourselves way more then any of the other generations. Thing is though, our world has evolved so much now that we have to fine tune our learning methods to adapt to the changes. Also if they are so critical about our generation now, what about the generation after ours? That generation will be completely different from ours now. If they don’t get criticized then that’s just unfair. I use FB for keeping in touch with family and friends. I have family in the US, on the east coast west coast southern Ontario and lots of other places. People are just going to have to get used to the new world. We are the future! Deal with it!
Raj, facebook wasn’t from a college. It was from Harvard where a group of students built up a communication system not called FB but something different and the founder of FB stole it and he eventually got sued for a large amount of money I’ll post a link for you.
This is the link for one of the brothers that started ConnectU the first "FB"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyler_Winklevoss
I am definitely saying it's not just the United States with the whole dumbest generation problem. All I'm saying is that the book is BASED of the American teens. Look at the cover...
Okay, so the author says we are removed from the world realities, we pay for attention on other things like the T.V, Facebook, clothes and etc. Well, first of all I would like to point out that ALL the research in this book WASN'T specifically done for this book; they were independent studies, for the people who conducted them. And second of all he's only talking about US teens, well I'm pretty sure there are a lot of adults past our generation who couldn’t live a day without technology like Facebook or cell phones and technology isn't ONLY targeted for teens, there are many older people who are tech. savvy. And us for being ignorant about things we should but don’t know. Well, if he's blaming us for being ignorant about things we should know, how can you be ignorant if you weren't taught those things, I was never taught the 52 states of America, so he shouldn't blame us for the information we DON'T know, isn't it our educators job to educate about world issues and things that have happened before like World War 2? So it's not fair for him to blame something we have no control over, we don't control what the teachers teach us, we just learn. And didn’t Mr.Oickle say at this point of life we only really care about things that affect us and less about this that don’t concern us, it’s more about “YOU” and less about other things in the world?
Trololol so Mark is calling every1 under 30 or this generation ignorant, stupid and clueless, for what? Not knowing every single state in USA and their capitals? Memorizing every significant event that happened in the last 100 years? Or who was the 2nd last speaker of the senate is? Well of course we don't know, we don't spend every hour of every day memorizing useless information,we have google.
And about us being cut off from the world due to facebook, twitter , and whatever other things distract us. That is the most untrue statement I have ever heard. It is the technology of this this generation that brings us more connected, lets take it back 30 years: And earthquake followed by a tsunami has hit japan, 2 months later in Canada Holy geezus an earthquake has hit japan.While in this generation with the help of twitter, facebook and TELEVISON word spreads like a wild fire attacking a gasoline drenched forest on a hot and dry day.
But what is with calling us t he dumbest generation? Just because we read what ever percent less than our last generation doesn't mean we are dumb and Canada has a 99% literacy rate. Like I really don't know where Mark gets his data from at least give us some reason ( unless those are in the book which I'm only 30 pages into)
PS. The dumbest generation is about American teens not Canadian teens but close enough right?
Also can people stop posting so much, when I saw 20 comments I was like OMG am I the last one? So we should have a mega thread just for debates and such
And I didn't read everyone else comments except the first few because that would take waaaaaay to long
Holy crap i tried to post but it gave me an error message I was so scared but then I remembered I just copied paste it to word
Phew
I don't understand how we are cut off from all the world "realities". when we have all these sources of news: facebook,twitter, etc. In fact photos and videos get posted on twitter long before they hit tv and newspapers. So in a way twitter and facebook are the fastest ways to get information and news out. For example during the egypt protests country's used facebook twitter and all the other social media sites to contact vacationers and travelers who were stranded there.
And I disagree with lydia and eric. Yes, the generation before us created computers and the inernet. and we do use it, but sometimes we abuse our priveleges. Surely when Mark Zuckerberg created facebook he wanted people to use it. but he didn't want people to spend hours on end staring at a screen because they are sooo adicted. so to expand on erics example about cake: Its not like putting cake in front of us and accusing us of eating it. But putting a cake in front of us and accusing us of eating ALL of it.
In my opnion, the author has it all wrong, I feel that a lot of young people do care whats happening around the world. I feel that we even do more and think more about what's happening and how we can help then some of the adults. I don't have facebook, but I still go on the computer all the time. With all these technolgy we know what's happening around the world before the adults do, I see no problem, what so ever. I think a lot of young adults are trying to unite the world, more then the adults do. Adults keep on the past. Example some are still racists and very dicrimitive. And all us young people don't care about each other's religious values are the colour of their skin. And if they do, they are taught shamly by their elders, parents what ever you want to call it. So really us young people are more mature and know what's happening more around the world then adults. I bet some adults care more for their work, cars and their money mroe then us young. So my conclusion is that adults are as much uninterested in world realty as we are. WE CARE FOR OUR WORLD!
I would also like to add, that WE ARE THE NEXT GENERATION!!!! SO DEAL WITH IT MR. AUTHOR!! All it seems like your doing is complaining about how you think we all dumb, and using statistics against us. WE ARE NOT DUMB, AND WE ARE TAUGHT BY YOU MR.! So we can all call you MR. DUMBEST AUTHOR and I agree with Lydia you are just Jealous that you didn't have what our generation has, and we can be NOW called the NEWEST GENERATION. Cause we're SMARTIES!!
@Jon H. I thought facebook was made to connect the people who go to Harvard and also it's Haïti not Hawaii.
Technology can be good and bad as said.
Today on CTV news, I saw a about a 75 year old Georgian women who was scavenging to sell as scrap when she accidentally cut an underground cable and cut off the Internet in Armenia. That made 3.2 million people wait for up to 5 hours for it to restart. Most of them were staring at the blank screens.
That's something the author was kinda saying since we over-use or even rely on it.
Another thing is that if you want to push someone in the pool, you have to make sure theyre not carrying any iPods, mp3 devices, cellphones, laptops etc.
What Mr. O said: We learn history to prevent it again. (The bad history like WW2)
Going to finish the post tomorrow or later. Sleeping now. Might have the flu and injured.
I'm also on my iPod so thats another good way of technology. Using for work :L
I disagree with the people who are saying it’s our parent’s generation’s fault, because, yes they created the Internet and Facebook, but we are the ones who are using it. Just because they created it, you can’t blame them for what we are doing. This is exactly what the author is talking about. We (the generation) are dumb because we have no personal responsibility, and we automatically blame whatever it was that happened on someone else. We have no common sense, because we are not expected to use it. It’s like saying “You didn’t tell me it was dangerous to walk backwards down the stairs, so it’s your fault I broke my leg.” Or “You didn’t tell me the knife was sharp, so it’s your fault I cut myself.”
I realize that Rohini? My point is it's North America that's having this problem.
What not disagreeing that we're not the dumbest generation, I'm saying we're the dumbest generation BECAUSE of the generation before us. We WOULD be just as smart as the other generations if we didn't abuse our privileges. But abusing our privileges today is much easier then it was 30 years ago because we have so much more available.
i agree with eric's comment ^
i say that the generation before us should take responsibility , because most of them are to lazy to teach us. the generation before them helped them to be successful , why don't they give back and help our generation.
yes we abuse our privileges , mainly because the generation before us doesn't discipline us like they were disciplined.
I think it's unfair how he is pinpointing our generation and saying that we are idiots. I know that at certain times in life there will be times where things are going to be extremely unfair (life isn't fair and all that) but this is pushing the limit because the data isn't accurate. They say we are ALL dumb but for them to say that they would have to have recorded all the kids and in the world in this generation and did they? And some of us do care about the stuff that happens on the other side of the world and some of us don't. It's just like hating someone because they don't like spinach or something along those lines. Another thing is that our generation does read but just because we don't read 24/7 doesn't mean they have the right to label us as dumb. You see the world oday loves labels and they have to categorize everybody so they conduct resarch on how we are lazy and stupid and thats that but thats really not true at all. I just think that the guy who wrote the book the dumbest generation doesn't understand the kids of today.
Like Hilary, I don't think it's fair to say we are the dumbest generation. It's not our fault that new technology has come out and we feel an interest in it. Maybe the other generations are the dumb ones for not knowing how to work technology? Hmm...every think about that??
Reading teaches you a lot but it's not the only way to learn. A lot of learning comes from technology, of which our generation spends a lot of time on. Big deal!!! Reading can even be done on a tech device.
And how can someone say that we are the dumbest generation when he/she isn't even our generation. He hasn't lived our life so he wouldn't know. He's never walked a mile in our shoes. So don't judge a book by it's cover.
well, even though i didnt read the other comments, i guess im still going to have to step up to the plate here. ok then. here we go. so what i think the meaning of that was that he/she thought we know nothing about the world around us and the history that passed. i think i have mixed fealings about that because in all honesty he/she's right. we know almost nothing compared to what the previous generations did. we ARE to wrapped up in whats happening now and only things that invlve our interests. im not going to lie here, im supporting the argument. we arent learnig much and we arent even learning it fast. some of you might say that we dont need to because we can reference it, but one day i actually thought about that and its completely not true; in two ways. way #1: the internet is getting really crowded, really fast. in the future, its going to be extremely hard to find the truth. way #2. even if you COULD find the information, you wouldnt understand it, THAT, is the essential part of learning; understanding it. if we dont understand it we cant improve on anything at all. right now we are taking advantage of what all of our ancestors brought us. a lot of people are saying these days, that technology is advancing really quickly. let me tell you, it wont be. the way things, are going now, we're just going to end up knowing only what we were tought, and nothing more. people say we need to change the world, well guess what? recycling a couple bottles isnt going to cut it; we need some big improvments NOW. and here we are just taking our time. i think when he/she said we were good "jaywalking" targets, he/she meant that we are dumb and lazy. a lot of us are. dont argue. i mean, not all of us are like that, dont get me wrong, there are probably people on that show who were getting all the questions right. but fact is, that there are probably a lot more getting them WRONG then there would be 50 years ago. we are to wrapped up in whats happening with US and whats happening around us (excluding school) that we dont see that we need to advance. right now we are kidding ourselves that the way we are living will sufice, but it wont. people think that we "learn" from facebook, we can "access" the tech; no we dont, and no we cant. im glad they made the show. they probably did it to trick people our age into researching the answers but i think people are missing the point by that and just getting offended. hope you liked my response.
PS. i know if anyone's reading this, they're probably offended, but dont kid yourself, you know its true.
the author is very 1 sided and old fashion, meaning he thinks that being "smart" in his definition means to memorize the 50 states and remember all these facts in history geography etc; he is 30 years late. Now, the more important thing is being able to access the information from the internet. Yes its true in that way we are a little lazy just needing to go click a few keys and get our answer, instead of going to the library, but that is a fact of modern life. He can call us ignorant but that is just if we were in his generation but we are not, clearly. so he has to move on and understand that the internet and technology has a huge impact of how we do things but, if he just likes the older way of life better than poor him because that is not the reality of today 2011.
So in other words, He has a different perspective of "smart" than us.
I think that this author isn't thinking 21st century. We are most certainly not being blocked off from the news, in fact we are having news from around the world pushed into our faces frequently. A great example would be Facebook as Jon h had said. Some of us do care about the news as Jon had also said, for instance at night I will watch the news headlines with my parents. The reason we do care is because it does affect us even if it is something happening on the other side of the earth. And we care if it affects us because as many adults have said, all that teenagers care about is ourselves.
As I said before and sebastian had also said, this is the 21st century and nowadays it is more important to know how to access information then it is to memorize information(as said in class). This guy seriously needs to get over the fact that we will get information the way we feel like getting the information, but one way or another we will find it out. We are not being blocked from information. If we were ten how would we all have known about the tsunami and earthquake the day after? And how would we have known about the election?
All the facts in this book mean nothing to me because I know that 21st century works and I think thT or class is proof of it. Our world is progressing and this author guy needs to get over it.
I can not relate to this post at all , me i love to know what going on around the world and history. The reason why I think all of us are disinterested in our own countries history is because we learn about the same thing. Sorry but i am fed up with all canadian history ,i want to learn about europe and africa and others. Our generation is all about being social thats what we are, thats we like facebook. Id rather be on facebook than doing the usless math sheets or literacy sheets.
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