Negative impact of the internet on how our modern society works

It’s clear that over the last 15 years, technology has increased immensely, and each day, we become more dependent on it. The internet itself, an innovation that a few years ago seemed impossible to be further developed, is now available worldwide. Despite its incredible advancements, it’s clear that it will impact how our modern society works; Unfortunately, many of these impacts are negative. As Mark Bauerlein states in his book “ The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans”, the Digital Age is only making millennials alienated and ignorant, or as he might call: dumb. He is correct in asserting that the current generation lacks necessary and important knowledge, because of a failed educational system provided by teachers’ poor performances. However, millennials aren’t dumb because of their lack of intellect, but because they choose to be that way.

In Mark Bauerlein words, millennials have become an intellectually poor generation. Since people have information available at all times, there is no point in storing it, which is why, as a study published by The Washington Times showed, Gen-Y have been having mediocre scores on international academic surveys; Most likely lower than the ones from past generations. This, however, serves as an indication that millennials are, more than anything, idle and disinterested. The effort students and young professionals need in order to learn something today, is nothing compared to the past generation’s. In an interview made with Luciano Puccini, he explains more about the common misconception on to what extent the internet gives information “ You have plenty of information readily available… and that gives the perception that knowledge is at your hands. It’s an illusion that the internet provides that, [once the] information is there, you have knowledge [over a particular topic]; That is the biggest risk of this generation. “. This lazy, distracted, impatient and also ‘ narcissistic’ generation, because their overly high self-esteem, is what Bauerlein sees as a product of the modern technological world.

According to a Forbes magazine piece, millennials are “ the least curious and intellectual generation in national history” because they choose to be that way, and this is why Generation Y is dumb. With all the technology millennials have access to, being able to study and deepen their understanding of the world should be an easy task, and this is why the Internet is amazing for society. Technology has only opened doors for them; It allowed them to deepen their knowledge in hundreds of topics in a way that was impossible before. Unfortunately, in every generation in the world, there will always be two groups of people: the ones that stay in and the ones that stay out of their comfort zones. Even though the Digital Age has created even more mediocrity than before, it has only enriched the people that are using the internet the smart way. Even more important, it has brought opportunities for the bright minds out there, that before would have no chance of making a change in the world. Why is the number of entrepreneurs, especially millennial entrepreneurs, slowly increasing every day? In the words of Spinder Dhaliwal, technology has allowed them to create their start-ups in a much cheaper and easy way. The reason why those entrepreneurs are the exception when referring to the stupid generation of millennials is because they choose to use the internet in a way that benefits their personal development. This small group of risk takers and visionaries understood that there was an opportunity available for them, and they made the best out of it. If only the rest of millennials understood that they have half of their journey already done for them, the famously known ‘ Me, me, me’ generation would the most powerful, impactant generation in history.

So, millennials are indeed dumb. Disregarding opportunities to deepen their knowledge, with such advanced resources that make the process a whole lot easier, is the reason why the young adults in the modern world are dumb. Now, the question is: how can this be solved? In this case, they are a lost generation. There is nothing society can do in order to reverse the poor education parents and teachers gave them. On the positive side, however, life will change them. These narcissistic, lazy, ignorant and entitled adults, will have to learn their lesson with experiences that life will offer them. Now, people should focus on investing in the next generation, so that they don’t make the same mistakes that millennials have done. Center efforts on the development of Generation Z, and there will be a powerful and influential generation that will be able to make great changes in the world.