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Impact of the Internet on Young People
Impact of the Internet on Young People
The influence of the internet on the young generation
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How amazing is it to realize that our generation is the generation of the future? Who would have ever thought that spending your free time on the computer could contribute to something so much bigger? Clive Thompson is a Canadian freelance journalist, blogger and science and technology writer. In the second chapter, “Public Thinking,” of Clive Thompson’s book Smarter Than You Think, Thompson describes how various technological innovations impacts our society for the better.
People all around agree that technology is changing how we think, but is it changing us for the better? Clive Thompson definitely thinks so and this book is his collection of why that is. As an avid fiction reader I wasn’t sure this book would captivate me, but the 352 pages seemingly flew past me. The book is a whirlwind of interesting ideas, captivating people, and fascinating thoughts on how technology is changing how we work and think.
The fourth chapter in Putnam’s Our Kids is titled “Schooling”, and it focuses on how education plays into class inequality. The argument is that while schools do not cause the opportunity gap between poor kids and rich kids, but the schools allow it to grow. Putnam claims, “schools as sites probably widen the class gap,” (182). How the schools act as these sites, is based strongly on the physical segregation of rich people from poor people. Putnam refers to this segregation as “residential sorting”, and states that, “residential sorting by income [...] has shunted high-income and low-income students into separate schools,” (163). Rich parents want their kids in the best schools, with the best teachers and the best peers, and are able to afford
“The Dumbest Generation” is a title no group of people want to behold. Nonetheless, people under age thirty have been given this belittling title. To those who go off questions about obsolete general knowledge rather than the ability to take in and evaluate knowledge, this title may seem quite fitting. However, Millennials aren’t quite as dull as they’ve been perceived to be. The ability of Millennials to absorb information, rather than know general facts, and their use of contemporary technology as reading and writing resources has proven that they are quite an innovative and bright generation.
Has the modernization of the twentieth century made us smarter or has it hindered our brains to think in 140 characters or less? In the article, “Brain Candy”, Steven Johnson argues that the “steady upward trajectory” in global I.Q scores is due to what we thought was making us dumber: popular culture. However, this romantic critic is too rooted in his technology- age ideology. While Johnson claims that everything bad is good for us, family themed-programing is being replaced by fabricated reality television shows and channels specialized in selling, video games are hindering our reading and writing skills, and books are becoming things of the past. Johnson insists that popular culture is making us smarter, but is stupid the new smart?
Happiness for Sale -. Is happiness for sale? It is true that with enough money, one can enjoy everything luxurious, and live a life of comfort and security. A little more money makes us a little happier. However, happiness involves more than financial fitness; it encompasses emotional fulfillment as well, thus there are various ways to pursue happiness. In “Immune to Reality”, Daniel Gilbert examines the operation of the “psychological immune system,” which protects us when we suffer wrenching setbacks but not when we try to cope with minor ones, imparting a surprising complacency in the face of significant blows but often leaving us quite helpless when we deal with trivial irritations.
Anti-Intellectusim: Why We Hate the Smart Kids, author Grant Penrod argues that intellectual kids are not respected in today’s society. Although he makes a valid argument with some good points, he bases his statements off of his high school experiences. In reality, the world is much different after high school. His idea of intellectual kids not being praised in society is false. This idea can be compared to the false idea that upper social classes are treated worse than middle and lower classes. Kids with high intellectual abilities are valued and can be compared to the upper social class with its access to many privileges.
“With every new innovation, cultural prophets bickered over whether we were facing a technological apocalypse or a utopia” (Thompson 9). This quote states that with every significant break-through with technology, people contemplate whether it will have a positive or negative effect on mankind. Technology allows for external memory sources, connections to databases, and it allow easy communication between people. Thompson then directly counters Carr’s hypothesis and states that “[c]ertainly, if we are intellectually lazy or prone to cheating and shortcuts, or if we simply don’t pay much attention to how our tools affect the way we work, then yes - we become… over reliant” (Thompson 18). In his opinion, “[s]o yes, when we’re augmenting ourselves, we can be smarter… But our digital tools can also leave us smarter even when we’re not actively using them” (Thompson
Humans are becoming more technologically-efficient every day. New inventions and innovations are constantly being made. The Internet is becoming more “reliable” every day. However, how much do we really get from the constant advancement of Internet use and smarter technology? Should we look at their contributions to the world as a benefactor or a curse? The common effect of “artificial intelligence” in the technology we use every day is examined by two brilliant authors, Nicholas Carr and Jamias Cascio. In Carr’s article, “Is Google Making Us Stupid”, he explains the effects of the Internet and technology in our society and claims that the overuse of technology is dangerous and can affect how our mind operates. Jamias Cascio, on the other hand, uses his article “Get Smarter” to show the positive effects of technology in our constantly adaptive society claims that technology may just be making our society smarter and more efficient. While Carr and Cascio both use the claim of cause in their articles to provide valid points on how technology affects our society, Carr’s article proves to be more effective because it focuses on skeptical-based evidence and uses a variety of appeals and proofs.
Technology is one of the most important things in everyone’s life. Technology improves every day. in regards to today’s youth, they were born with all the new technological inventions as opposed to our parents. In “Quality Time, Redefined” by Alex Williams, published in the New York Times, the author talks about the positive and negative effects on technology. I enjoyed this reading because it related my personal day to day life. Even though some Americans acknowledge that technology is a part of their everyday life, they do not see the negative outcome of technology, they are blinded only by the positive aspects.
The opinions of many people vary on technology and the effects it has on today’s society. Some say that it’s more beneficial than anything, others completely disagree, and some have mixed emotions. Would you rather read out of a book, or play online learning games with a possible risk of eye problems? It’s about taking matters into your own hands. 71% of people believe technology has improved their lives. 76% of people completely disagree by saying that technology creates a lazy society and that is distracting and corrupting. Daily life with technology is also another huge issue in society. According to a survey taken in January 2013, people feel their work productivity has dropped 8% in the last year. They also felt that their relationships with their family at home dropped 4% in the past year. The opinions vary, but they are needed to show how technology is affecting different people.
In his essay Critical Thinking: What Is It Good For? (In Fact, What Is It), Howard Gabennesch explains the importance of critical thinking by drawing attention to how its absence is responsible for societies many ills including, but not limited to, the calamity in Vietnam. Yet, at the end of his essay, Gabennesch also mentions that, despite “the societal benefits of critical thinking, at the individual level, uncritical thinking offers social and psychological rewards of its own.”(14). Similarly, it is these rewards that, like the bait on a fishhook, often make individuals hesitant to engage in critical thinking despite the resulting harm to both them and society.
There is no doubt that the accomplishments made through technology are astonishing. Technology has made amazing impacts on everything from science in space to medical science to the devices we use every day that make our lives easier. People are living longer and better than ever before, but we can’t forget how to live without it. “Just because technology is there and makes something easier doesn’t mean we should rely on it so much that we can’t think for ourselves,” (Levinson).
According to John Horvat, an author in The Wall Street Journal, " The proper use of technology is that it should be a means to serve us and make our lives easier. A key requirement is that we should be in control." Although, the problem with today`s society, is that we are not in control. Instead of technology serving us, it is now the other way around. Society has been more dependent on its technology in recent years, than it has ever been in the past. Those who are against the up rise of the technology industries, believe that technology has taken away ...
Technology has changed modern society drastically, both positively and negatively. Technology has influenced every aspect of our life, making it simpler but not necessarily better. Albert Einstein was concerned about the advancement of technology. "I fear the day that technology will surpass our human interaction."1 Undoubtedly, what has changed the most are communication, the spread of information, and how business is practiced. Consequently, practically everyone knows how to use a computer, connect to the Internet, or use a smartphone. This is demonstrated by the way the Internet is used daily by millions of people to communicate, to sell, advertise, retrieve, and share information. Thanks to the Internet, information from anywhere in the world is at our fingertips. As a result, the advancement of technology has changed our life in many ways including; sharing of information, communication, business, education, social interaction, simplifying everyday tasks, replacing basic skills and jobs.