the internets make us stupid

[anitram]

^

Very American-centric view (not surprising) in that article.

The internet has done immense good abroad in having young people pick up English way faster than they ever did sitting their asses in classrooms for 10 years. It's also opened up the world for those in developing countries. I have a cousin in Eastern Europe who is really involved in a particular grassroots organization and she said if it weren't for the help they received from similar organizations in the U.S. and the U.K., all of whom they found and contacted online, they never would have been this well organized this quickly.

I don't think this article considered anything other than the perceived American experience.

[Irvine511]

Originally Posted by anitram

I don't think this article considered anything other than the perceived American experience.

and, based on the excerpt, it could have been written in 1989. absolutely nothing new in the criticisms it levels:

most young people in the United States do not read literature, visit museums, or vote. They cannot explain basic scientific methods, recount basic American history, name their local political representatives, or locate Iraq or Israel on a map. The Dumbest Generation is a startling examination of the intellectual life of young adults and a timely warning of its consequences for American culture and democracy.

that could be blamed on the TV ... or movies ... or rock music ... or, were this the 19th century, those subversive novels.

[melon]

most young people in the United States do not read literature, visit museums, or vote. They cannot explain basic scientific methods, recount basic American history, name their local political representatives, or locate Iraq or Israel on a map. The Dumbest Generation is a startling examination of the intellectual life of young adults and a timely warning of its consequences for American culture and democracy.

Hah...good luck finding so-called "adults" who can understand these concepts either. If we did, then those statistics of Americans who reject evolution would be far lower.

Originally Posted by Irvine511

and, based on the excerpt, it could have been written in 1989. absolutely nothing new in the criticisms it levels

Try 1987. The book is called "The Closing of the American Mind," by Allan Bloom. Although I must admit, since I think the book is very well-written and ultimately challenges you to think critically, rather than swap one dogma for another, I think it's worth reading just for that. And even though it is 21 years old now, much of what he brings up is just as relevant today. Supposedly, it has been mentioned as the book that started the "culture wars." Unfortunately, while it is a well-written, non-bigoted text that very much invites an equally intelligent and reasoned response even from those who disagree, liberal academics just dismissed it offhand and much of what his fellow conservatives have written afterward is just fearmongering, blithering nonsense that just tosses any form of reason or integrity to the wayside.

Diamond surprised me by reading it after I mentioned it here the last time, and hated it.

[BrownEyedBoy]

What I've noticed is that I feel more inclined to skim through every large body of words I read. I don't actually stop and get a feel for the combination of words that the author could come up with.

I've always had this massive ADD problem and I'm almost positive the internet hasn't helped, either. Each one of those articles you posted I took substantial amounts of breaks from read through them whether it was to IM or to check some other tab in which I was navigating on. I guess these "instant gratification" times are truly altering the way we think.

I think that students have more to lose with the way media distrubition has been changing lately because more often than not we are "forced" to study straight out of books and for me particularly, it's become harder and harder to follow my line of reading because I've become so accustomed to multi-task. It takes a much bigger effort to stay on task and not drift to whatever other distraction I most probably have in my room.