The Dumbest
Generation: How the
Digital Age Stupefies
Young Americans and
Jeopardizes Our Future
By Brittany Pitkin
Book Information
• Author: Mark Bauerlein
• Published in 2009
• Bauerlein makes
conclusions about
Generation Y
Generation Y
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Also known as the Millennials
Born in 1984-2002
Experienced the Digital Revolution
Display the outcomes of the Digital age
Generation Y is Ignorant
• Only focus on superficial interactions
• Only care about the issues facing themselves
• Direct realities:
• Social media, cars, work, music, television and friends
• Proud of ignorance
• Matter of “social survival”
• Internet provides endless amounts of knowledge, but
Generation Y chooses not to use it
Digital Revolution Hinders
Intelligence
• Test scores such as the NAEP, NSSE, ATUS and SPPA show
lower test scores from Generation Y compared to their
predecessors
• Jakob Nielsen’s study proved that reading habits have changed
• Only 16% of internet users read as if they were reading a book
• Users scan pages in an F shape
• “The mind online drifts towards simplicity, familiarity and
visibility. It wants the greatest amount of content for the least
amount of work” – Bauerlein
• Starting to be true about the mind offline
• Teens are choosing to read less and less, and Bauerlein
believes it is making their intelligence decrease
So why do we have higher IQ
scores?
• The Flynn Effect: “IQ tests do not measure intelligence but
rather correlate with a weak causal link to intelligence. The
increase is actually an increase in abstract problem solving
rather than intelligence”
• The Digital Revolution increased Spatial Reasoning, but no
matter how long the average young person spends online, his
vocabulary will never expand, his analytic talents will not
develop, his memory won’t improve and his knowledge will
not proceed
Who else is to blame?
• The mentors, knowledge workers and other members of the
older generation
• Not as much strong guidance
• Not as helpful when it comes to making teenagers mature
• The combination of technology and abdicating mentors has
created a youth who is more narcissistic than ever before and
much less intelligent
America’s Future
• America will not be able to produce enough mature adults and
intellectuals to replace the old ones needed to compete on a
world playing field
• In a few years, 90% of all scientists and engineers in the world
will reside in Asia
• Americans intelligence will keep dropping in rank when
compared to other countries around the world
The Digital Revolution did not open doors to new worlds and
cultures; it closed the doors to maturity and good classroom
habits because it allowed the Millennials to decide what they
want, and when they want it, at the touch of a button
Relation to CS408
• Discusses the ramifications of the Digital Age
• Further illustrates the Good, the Bad and the Ugly of the
Internet
Recommendation?