The Dumbest Generation

Ever since the advent of the modern digital culture, there have been some heated discussions on the topic of whether technology is a foe or a friend. Some people argue that it is influencing us negatively, scattering our attention and diffusing our concentration, while others believe otherwise, suggesting that it is making our lives more efficient and convenient. The emergence of such technology not only enhances some of our fundamental cognitive abilities, but also enables us to explore more of what is we are truly interested in. Modern technology has its merits. As Bauerlein points out in his article “the Dumbest Generation”, the digital revolution has provided us with “miraculous quick and effortless contact with information.” Indeed, we are the generation surrounded by technology, and the immediate access to countless of information has definitely aided us in many aspects of the modern society. Researching information has become
Rather, our thinking capabilities flourish. As Begley mentions, the IQ scores of every country that keep them have been rising since the 1930s. The tests gauge “not knowledge but pure thinking capability”, which reflects an increase in our cognitive abilities, such as to“think critically and logically, to analyze an argument, to learn and remember, to see analogies, to distinguish fact from opinion”(Souce 2). Furthermore, a cognitive scientist at Carnegie Mellon University suggests that as long as “new information technology exercises our minds provides more information”, which is precisely what it is continually doing, “it has to be improving thinking abilities” (Source 2). Clearly, the modern digital technology is not making us less thoughtful; instead, it could largely contribute to the strengthening of them, contrary to what most critics of the digital culture would like to