I find myself leaning more and more towards Tapscott's opinions
of the Net Generation possibly because I am a part of this so called
"Dumbest Generation" and truly disagree with Bauerlein's conclusion. Or
maybe I am aghast to associate myself with such a negative labeling.
The thirteen traits of Rosen’s “Rewired” and the Eight Net Gen Norms”
compiled by Tapscott are encouraging, but the characteristics of my
“Net” generation and those of the iGeneration are not all positive. Is
it that the iGeneration is being raised on a constant diet of technology
or that parenting is being replaced by the use of technology because a
single income is no longer enough to support a family? Are we allowing
computers, television, videogames, etc. to raise the current generation
of children because parents don’t have the time or energy to interact
with their kids? “I come home from school, boot up my laptop, grab a
snack, and get online. I stay there studying and talking to friends
until mom calls me for dinner and then head back there right after
dinner. Unless my mom or dad needs me I stay in my room until I go to
sleep.” (Rewired, pg. 30) Is it really just about how the child wants to
spend his time? I can’t fathom being so isolated and connected at the
same time. Maybe I’m not as much a part of the net gen as I thought.
I was comforted by the idea that we are a generation of scrutinizing and critical individuals. As I was reading the section of Tapscott’s article on Scrutiny, the State Farm app commercial came to mind:
"I thought State Farm didn't have all those apps?"
"Where'd you hear that?"
"The internet."
"And you believed it?"
"Yeah, they can't put anything on the internet that isn't true."
"Where'd you hear that?"
"The internet." “The Internet.”
“Oh look, here comes my date. I met him on the internet. He’s a French model!”
“Ah, Banj’or” www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmx4twCK3_I
State Farm uses this idiocy of the statement “They can’t put anything on the internet that isn’t true.” to dispel views notions that they are not keeping up with technology. But when I was a kid my parents were very distrustful of anything related to the internet. I remember my teachers continuously reminding us that Wikipedia was not a credible source of information for papers. If half of what you read on the internet is false in one way or another, no wonder people are skimming through articles instead of “sustained, undistracted reading”(Nicholas Carr – Is Google making us stupid).
After reading Carr’s article I updated my status on Facebook with Richard Foreman’s conclusions of today’s society. I particularly agreed with his “pancake people” statement. “‘Pancake people’ are spread wide and thin as we connect with that vast network of information accessed by the mere touch of a button.” (Richard Foreman). I was interested to see if any of my “friends” would comment, question, argue, anything really. After four and a half days I haven’t received even a “like”. Whereas if I had posted a picture of my cat doing something stupid and cat like I would have received all kinds of feedback. I don’t think of my friends as being dumb or shallow in thought, but I am somewhat disappointed in the lack of response because I posted something which required deeper thinking. “The kind of deep reading that a sequence of printed pages promotes is valuable not just for the knowledge we acquire from the author’s words but for the intellectual vibrations those words set off within our own minds” (Nicholas Carr – Is Google making us stupid).
I was comforted by the idea that we are a generation of scrutinizing and critical individuals. As I was reading the section of Tapscott’s article on Scrutiny, the State Farm app commercial came to mind:
"I thought State Farm didn't have all those apps?"
"Where'd you hear that?"
"The internet."
"And you believed it?"
"Yeah, they can't put anything on the internet that isn't true."
"Where'd you hear that?"
"The internet." “The Internet.”
“Oh look, here comes my date. I met him on the internet. He’s a French model!”
“Ah, Banj’or” www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmx4twCK3_I
State Farm uses this idiocy of the statement “They can’t put anything on the internet that isn’t true.” to dispel views notions that they are not keeping up with technology. But when I was a kid my parents were very distrustful of anything related to the internet. I remember my teachers continuously reminding us that Wikipedia was not a credible source of information for papers. If half of what you read on the internet is false in one way or another, no wonder people are skimming through articles instead of “sustained, undistracted reading”(Nicholas Carr – Is Google making us stupid).
After reading Carr’s article I updated my status on Facebook with Richard Foreman’s conclusions of today’s society. I particularly agreed with his “pancake people” statement. “‘Pancake people’ are spread wide and thin as we connect with that vast network of information accessed by the mere touch of a button.” (Richard Foreman). I was interested to see if any of my “friends” would comment, question, argue, anything really. After four and a half days I haven’t received even a “like”. Whereas if I had posted a picture of my cat doing something stupid and cat like I would have received all kinds of feedback. I don’t think of my friends as being dumb or shallow in thought, but I am somewhat disappointed in the lack of response because I posted something which required deeper thinking. “The kind of deep reading that a sequence of printed pages promotes is valuable not just for the knowledge we acquire from the author’s words but for the intellectual vibrations those words set off within our own minds” (Nicholas Carr – Is Google making us stupid).
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