Is Technology The Dumbest Generation?

Although seen as dumber because of their lessen ability to retain general knowledge as compared with previous generations, Gen Y is not the dumbest generation due to their utilization of technology as well as development of autonomy. Nowadays, technology is often deemed the culprit of younger students’ intellectual shortcomings (Source 2). However, technology and social media can actually be beneficial to students as it provides an accessibility of information and a platform for worldwide socialization. According to Source 3, students have become increasingly autonomous, due to their newfound ability to both learn from their peers and initiate a self-directed exploration of knowledge online. The vast compilation of information online lets students choose what they would like to study, and encourages learning outside of the classroom. Older generations didn’t have this access to the internet while they were going through school, which suggests that Gen Y isn’t the dumbest generation because of the impact that technology has had on students in this generation’s education. …show more content…
Technology may be to blame for the recent decrease in reading paperback books, but recent studies have suggested that technology has led to a revival of writing, and it has helped push the literacy of Gen Y in “bold new directions” (Source 7). This is probably due to the fact that almost all social interactions held online involve some form of text. This “conversational” and “public” platform allows students to interact with and create text outside of the classroom, which broadens their knowledge of writing and the English language (Source 7). This socialization has enabled Gen Y to develop better rhetoric skills than previous generations, and therefore they are more skilled at identifying audience and crafting an argument (Source