The downfall of intelligence

From the moment it was born, technology began changing the lives of the human population; but there has been speculation as to whether it has been positive or negative. Some argue that that those under the age of thirty should be considered “ the dumbest generation”, and others argue the opposite. Despite arguing statements, technology has impaired the society in its entirety. The overuse of technology has visibly caused individuals to become addicted, not self reliant, and may have even found themselves at a loss of common sense. A computer or cell phone can not teach someone everything they need to know, and can cause one to have an unhealthily small amount of human interaction. Take for example, the availability of online high school. It is already public knowledge that teenagers are constantly looking for short cuts, and providing this for them makes them even more likely to become engulfed by laziness.

Nowadays, people have full access to the world in a way that is similar to an on-demand television show; they can pull out their phone and search for anything, watch anything, and talk to anyone. They, how you say, have the world at their fingertips. Because of this wide range of availability, people tend to not work hard for what they want. This causes issues like the United States obesity problem. In the illustration of Source H, a young man is shown sitting in a chair with books surrounding him; however he seems to be focused on the laptop in front of him. This represents that despite the abundance of wonderful resources around someone, they will always turn to technology because it is so easy to use, rather than taking time out of their day to search through books like past generations. Source A states “ Life has never never been so yielding, goods so plentiful, schooling so accessible”, exemplifying how everything is so easily accessible, and how it requires such little effort. As a result, people’s minds have adapted so much to the point where they think it is a hassle to go to the library to find a book.

On the other hand, accessibility is not all that is withering down people’s brains. The addiction to video games, social media, and the internet in general also plays a role in the regression of intelligence. It seems as if people are only wanting to care about their amount of followers on platforms like Twitter and Instagram, and would prefer to use their brain to focus on a virtual world rather than reality. Source F states “ Playing the game is a nonstop balancing act.”, which sheds light onto the fact that people are spending countless hours, if not days, perfecting video games instead of perfecting their everyday life. Teenagers are a prime example of this lack of integrity. Source F also states “ Books don’t pause mid chapter to confirm that their readers vocabularies have progressed enough to move on…”, which in a sense is saying that real education can not come to a halt just for one person to catch up. This is similar to life; it is not going to slow down and wait for you to be ready for the next step.

However, some argue that the accessibility of education has been beneficial, and has sped up the process of the said to be “ enduring” public school methods. Take “ abcmouse. com an online learning experience” as an example. It is a very helpful tool to get children learning the basics, yet it can not replace the first years of primary school completely. Online schools cannot teach one how to make friends, and cannot help one understand how to act socially. Technology cannot teach you life lessons. That is the truth. Also, social media is not teaching people valuable lessons; it is teaching them how to hide behind a screen instead of facing their problems. Source G claims, “ Facebook encourages narcissistic blabbering.”. This tells people that even though social media is wonderful in a sense of keeping in touch, it is often not used as such. It is frequently used as a form of verbal warfare, and that is not what the world needs.

In conclusion, yes, those under the age of thirty are in fact the dumbest generation. It is agreeable that technology has changed wonderfully throughout the years, but the fact of the matter is- technology should not be teaching children, teachers should. Today, more than ever, people need help. Young people cannot do things for themselves because technology has always done everything for them. Oh sorry, did Snapchat not teach you how to get a job or pay bills? Looks like you might have to turn for help on this one.