Over the course of the past one hundred years, humanity has surpassed anything that could have been possibly imagined at the time. The invention of planes, cellphones and the Internet has become some of the most important parts of modern life. Specifically within the past twenty years, the technological advancements have been astronomical, leaving many individuals within Generation X far behind. In the modern world, we see the use of cellphones and the Internet as a basic social norm; everyone does or should utilize it. Its constant growth has begun to make many scholars question its effect on younger generations and if there is a correlation between the current human intelligence decline and new technologies available. There is a constant
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There are undeniable studies that the NEA (National Endowments for the Arts) have presented showing how literacy rates have been on the decline, rapidly. A majority of people back up that the decline in reading is due to the technological advancements that are more than ever redirecting adolescent attention from reading to more social media or digital games. I interviewed a 75-year-old Serbian woman, who immigrated to America during her early twenties and her name is Dobrilla Waugh. During the interview I asked if she felt as though teens and children today are the dumbest generation, her response was that they “are not dumber, its just that a lack of reading makes people sound dumber” meaning many kids do not know the meaning of words or how to pronounce them correctly that would have been expected years ago. She and many others within our class agree upon the emotional qualities that are so unique to books are becoming distant. Parents and grandparents often don’t see the youngest generation as stupid, but rather their lack of reading just limits their potential to grow intellectually. The last part of how the digital world has harmed people is because no one can truly multi task. Since the 1960s, psychologists have conducted experiments on the nature and limits of human multitasking, proving that even people, who thought that they were great multi-taskers, were not. …show more content…
I can only imagine how disconnected the world would have been without the quickness and limitless possibilities that the Internet shares. Going back to what Mrs. Waugh said about her Internet usage, she wishes she would have had it when she was working as sending a fax or an email would have been much simpler and efficient than tracking down the individual. Today, the Internet is a melting pot of information but on contrary to popular belief is not an overload of information. The reason for this is because of it being a much more specific type of reading and searching. Where as with a book such as an encyclopedia, so much information is put into it overwhelming many people. Lastly, the skill of multi tasking is possible but has its limits. There is no denying, as I see it in research and myself, the difficulty of multi tasking. Technology can distract many people, but at a certain point I believe that it is up to the person, not machine, to have the ability to look away from an LED
There are undeniable studies that the NEA (National Endowments for the Arts) have presented showing how literacy rates have been on the decline, rapidly. A majority of people back up that the decline in reading is due to the technological advancements that are more than ever redirecting adolescent attention from reading to more social media or digital games. I interviewed a 75-year-old Serbian woman, who immigrated to America during her early twenties and her name is Dobrilla Waugh. During the interview I asked if she felt as though teens and children today are the dumbest generation, her response was that they “are not dumber, its just that a lack of reading makes people sound dumber” meaning many kids do not know the meaning of words or how to pronounce them correctly that would have been expected years ago. She and many others within our class agree upon the emotional qualities that are so unique to books are becoming distant. Parents and grandparents often don’t see the youngest generation as stupid, but rather their lack of reading just limits their potential to grow intellectually. The last part of how the digital world has harmed people is because no one can truly multi task. Since the 1960s, psychologists have conducted experiments on the nature and limits of human multitasking, proving that even people, who thought that they were great multi-taskers, were not. …show more content…
I can only imagine how disconnected the world would have been without the quickness and limitless possibilities that the Internet shares. Going back to what Mrs. Waugh said about her Internet usage, she wishes she would have had it when she was working as sending a fax or an email would have been much simpler and efficient than tracking down the individual. Today, the Internet is a melting pot of information but on contrary to popular belief is not an overload of information. The reason for this is because of it being a much more specific type of reading and searching. Where as with a book such as an encyclopedia, so much information is put into it overwhelming many people. Lastly, the skill of multi tasking is possible but has its limits. There is no denying, as I see it in research and myself, the difficulty of multi tasking. Technology can distract many people, but at a certain point I believe that it is up to the person, not machine, to have the ability to look away from an LED