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The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future (Or, Don't Trust Anyone Under 30) By Mark Bauerlein ( Tarcher )
Release Date: 2008-05-15
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Product Description
This shocking, lively exposure of the intellectual vacuity of today’s under thirty set reveals the disturbing and, ultimately, incontrovertible truth: cyberculture is turning us into a nation of know-nothings.
Can a nation continue to enjoy political and economic predominance if its citizens refuse to grow up?
For decades, concern has been brewing about the dumbed-down popular culture available to young people and the impact it has on their futures. At the dawn of the digital age, many believed they saw a hopeful answer: The Internet, e-mail, blogs, and interactive and hyper-realistic video games promised to yield a generation of sharper, more aware, and intellectually sophisticated children. The terms “information superhighway” and “knowledge economy” entered the lexicon, and we assumed that teens would use their knowledge and understanding of technology to set themselves apart as the vanguards of this new digital era.
That was the promise. But the enlightenment didn’t happen. The technology that was supposed to make young adults more astute, diversify their tastes, and improve their verbal skills has had the opposite effect. According to recent reports, 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.
Drawing upon exhaustive research, personal anecdotes, and historical and social analysis, Mark Bauerline presents an uncompromisingly realistic portrait of the young American mind at this critical juncture, and lays out a compelling vision of how we might address its deficiencies.
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 Combat Ageism ( karl14821 )
As a 26 year old IT guy, I suppose I'm in the "target demographic" of untrustworthy people. I work full time, am successful and have the capacity to talk intellectually. Yes, I do play video games, use the internet, and guess what else? I can find Iraq on the map, have discussions about important books, films, and philosophy.
This is ageism - it does exist, and it is harmful to our society. Try writing a book on not trusting "old people" and see how far it goes.
I'm offended that such a book exists. Generalizations about any group of people can be dangerous.
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Children reflect on their parents
And if the children can't make it, the elder generation has to be responsible. This sort of smug bashing is not helping anyone.
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Degenerate Luddite
First off, I have not read the book. I will not read the book. I will discourage everyone to not read the book. All it is a collection of fearmongering "good ole' days" propaganda from a Luddite who can't keep up with the shifting culture of information consumption and new ways to learn both new and old lessons. Like the majority of people who find change scary, he demonizes that which he willingly makes no effort to understand, and uses platitudinous anecdotes with no real bearing on reality and manipulated statistics to make far-reaching claims about how dumb my generation (yes, my) generation is, and makes the logical face plant jump about trustworthiness.
I find even the title and the implication that my digital "lifestyle" as it were has done anything other than enhance me as an informed, educated, individual. There are plenty of better written, more balanced arguments exploring both the pros and the cons of the current state of information culture. Do yourself a favor and do your own research, and find your own conclusions that aren't based on fear and anxiety.
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A fairly dumb book ( gputerbaugh_en_france )
I have been reading this book, and am so far impressed by two apparent facts.
First, the title is a lie. All the author proves is that the kids are as dumb as us. How exciting.
And then, second, will this book do any good? I doubt it. As Ortega y Gasset noted, almost a century ago: "The commonplace mind, knowing itself to be commonplace, has the assurance to proclaim the rights of the commonplace and to impose them wherever it will."
But of course -- everybody is equal!!! (And if they aren't, they can always find somebody else to blame......)
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 Here's Generation D's Failing Report Card
[Fred Allen, radio/TV comedian of the 50s, once "predicted" that the then mass of new TV-watchers would eventually have "brains the size of peas and eyeballs the size of cantelopes" if they didn't get the excesses of the"vast wasteland" (words of then FCC Chairman, Newton Minnow) -watching under control. Well...] Seems we just may have reached the point Allen had in mind, our having fostered a generation who's life is routinely about being glued to all kinds of electronic screens...not to mention getting musically iWired, making big money, looking good and having fun
Nevermind brain-power enhancement. For youngsters, gaining knowledge, writing, shaping values, and just plain reading are not the "cool" things to do these days.
--Or so author and university English professor Mark Bauerlein claims. Risking minor wrath of 12-to-29-year-olds by describing their lifestyles as mind-dulling and narrow, he describes a youthful way of life that's devoid of the curiosities of even everyday learning. --But lest the reader be fooled that this is a book repleat with armchair opinion, here's one bold, serious effort that takes on a generation in need of a mind-set overhaul, a generation unashamed of its open apathy toward reading and learning --and what it means for all of us. The book makes its point relying on a myriad of convincing references, results, and conclusions from studies, surveys by reputable academic think tanks, associations, ed boards, conferences and committees.
In fact, sometimes the read gets a little dry with all the numbers, percentages, comparisons, charts, quotes and definitions offered. Indeed, The Dumbest Generation [the book, that is] is not a loose work designed to lampoon a vulnerable, younger people. Quite the opposite, it's an up-close examination of the relationship between lack of learning and disdain for reading...and a resulting dismal future for our democracy. At first, this sounds like a stretch, but Bauerlein is a credible voice and does a good job showing we've got a problem on our hands: a generation of very capable youth...that openly rejects the past, rejects authority and mentors, rejects schoolwork...only to fill the void with over-abundant screen-watching, never-ending peer contact, time-consuming jobs, and dreaming about/planning for hefty future incomes.
We find out our "kids" know little about math, tradition, history, philpsophy, art, current events, science, the world around them...and, says Bauerline, we're going to pay for it. He claims the low levels of general knowledge comes from too much time spent in self-serving, ego- boosting activities...like texting & iPoding & watching TV, web surfing, playing video games, and more. The author claims "Generation D," shall we say, reads little, spells poorly and writes even worse....and doesn't much care about the difficiencies.
He takes no cheap shots. Bauerlein drills into nobody and affixes little blame but does make a sound case, outlining how too much Internet and too little reading have lead to poor general knowledge, which ultimately results in the demise of a democracy. [Appropriately, he includes a good reference to Jefferson and his comments about "a literate electorate...."]Our author puts his research of "how it is" out for all of us to think about...as he concludes that declining values, a reduced quality of life and crumbling political process are in store.
Unfortunately, the book falls short in making no clear connection between youth's passion for electronic gear and fun-time...and the the multinational corporations' infatuation with youth's cash. That marketeers expect billion$ and billion$ from this group annually is no small point, and "getting smarter" almost Requires the rejection of (at least some of) the hip, modern, "cool" electronic toys the 12-to-29ers infectiously require. ["I couldn't live without my cell phone," laments one of The Generation's respondents in the book.] We get only passing notes on the enormous pressures put on them to buy. Bauerline might
have shown some cause and effect. Why not here and now address the relationship between pandering companies and low achievement? As there's, apparently, no money in getting smarter these days, Bauerline passes up a perfectly good opportunity to briefly clarify...even though up front he tells us that the scope of this book is limited and would not include
such examinations.
So, the Internet's the culprit in all this window-watching the young generation's "into"? --Hard to disagree, especially when we see so much of youth culture forever plugged-in, on-line, and checked-out. An important, laudable work...yet the author is apt to make some mad --like middle school and university teachers who, he claims, have lost the responsibility for teaching kids to learn How To Learn --like some members of "Generation D" who (unfortunately) may criticize this laudable work as an personal affront instead of a blueprint for change. [--But, then again, they'd had to have Read The Book first....] Given that the intellibots of the "dumbest generation" are, in fact, great at mastering Web offerings, Blackberry and cell phone manipulation, and 40-level video-game challenges, 50s funnyman Fred Allen probably should have included: "...and thumbs the girth of tree stumps."
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