The smartest generation ever?

Posted on | December 4, 2008 | No Comments

Several books have been published recently claiming that new technology and especially they internet has had a devastating effect on today’s youth. Some authors, notably much older than the generation they are writing about, argue that kids today have become bad at communication, unread and even socially inept because of the new technology available. The solution? Keeping technology and the internet away from children.

One man, however, has spent a lot of time trying to prove these writers wrong. Don Tapscott, author of the 1997 bestseller Growing Up Digital, has overseen a recent study of around 8000 people in 12 different countries born between 1978 and 1994, and the results are optimistic. Tapscott argues that the problem is not the young, but rather the older generation who can sometimes feel so threatened by new technology and their inability to use it that they cannot see the revolutionary, positive changes taking place because of it.

Tapscott argues that what we are seeing is the first “global generation” ever, and as such they are not only more generally more tolerant of diversity than before – they are also very  aware of and engaged in social issues, and in trying to change society (and the world) for the better. This was evident during the Obama campaign, when young people organized themselves through the internet and mobile phones, and also brought the campaign to online communities such as Facebook and Youtube. Tapscott even goes so far as to call today’s young the “smartest generation ever”, and he offers the preceding “TV generation” as a comparison. Wathcing TV, Tapscott says, is very passive whereas communicating online and through all the new technology available is interactive and very stimulating for the brain. He also argues that the internet and online resources must be given a much bigger role in education – both in the physical classroom and through e-learning. Read more in this article from the Economist.

The picture above is taken in 2006 at the Finnish Mission School in Asmara, Eritrea, when the brand new computer room sponsored by MKFC Stockholm College was introduced.

Written by Fanny Johansson

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