News. Technology. Ramblings.

Technology is making students “lazy and deficient”. That’s the view of a Emory University English professor. Mark Bauerlein suggests the idea in his new book The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future (Or, Don’t Trust Anyone Under 30).

Are youth really brain dead because of all the time spent texting, twittering, gaming and obsessing over social-networking? Beuerlein says they are. But I’ll bet 50 years ago you could have published a similar book, substituting the words TV and movies for computer and internet. At least today’s digital gadgetry can lead to a dialogue instead of just zoning viewers into television oblivion.

You tend to find what you are looking for. Looking to waste time? Seeking new ways to engage others and the world around you? You’ll find each one readily available. It’s the user that makes the difference, not the delivery system. Though the setting may make it easier to tilt one direction or another, the responsibility for the decision is squarely on our own shoulders.