Writing about writing—by the Write Source staff

The Dumbest Assertion: How Fear of the Digital Age Stupefies Older Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future (Or, Don’t Trust a Book With Three Titles)

Professor Mark Bauerlein of Emory University in Atlanta has recently published a book entitled The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future (Or, Don’t Trust Anyone Under 30). In it, he makes the case that Generation Y has been “stupefied” by technology, spending time on Facebook instead of reading books.

Hmmm. I remember spending time watching reruns of Gilligan’s Island and Hogan’s Heroes instead of reading books.

The professor also asserts that social networking online has made students awkward in face-to-face communication.

I remember, on the other hand, being incredibly unawkward as a young, face-to-face talkingish person. (Nonawkward? Antiawkward?) I think you know what I’m trying to say.

The professor goes on to indicate that people in Generation Y think they are the center of the universe.

Not my universe, of course. I’m the center of that.

But maybe Bauerlein is right. Maybe technology is turning the next generation’s brains into goo. After all, Hulu.com even admits it. This Internet site claims that it streams television shows online in an attempt to turn human minds into mush.

Of course, Hulu also claims to be a consortium of aliens headed up by Alec Baldwin.

It’s called satire—a very old and very intellectual form of humor, usually created as a social critique. In this case, Hulu isn’t parodying itself. It’s parodying those over 30 who fear that “MyFace” and “SpaceBook” are taking over the world.

Okay, so maybe Bauerlein seriously believes what Hulu jokes about. But a recent report from Education Week and the Editorial Projects in Education Research Center indicates that high school graduation rates have been steadily rising from 1995 to 2006. How could such a change happen if the Internet really is destroying brains?

Part of the reason that Bauerlein’s assertion so riles me is that it feels completely counter to my experience. I am routinely amazed by the young people around me. They know more than I ever did. They are better and brighter. Let’s be honest—we Gen Xers were no prize. We grew up on the Bradys, Pong, Fun Dip, sex/drugs/rock ‘n’ roll, and a slew of other things not correlated with improving gray matter.

I remember my youth. I remember it now more than ever because of Facebook. All my old friends are getting back in touch, and we are remembering just how awkward and stupid we really were. I’m less worried about the fact that Gen Y is about to take the reins of civilization than the fact that Gen X currently holds the reins!

So maybe something else is at work here. Maybe Bauerlein doesn’t trust people below 30 not because they are dumber than we, but because they are smarter—or at least better adapted to the world as it is becoming. They are intellectual carpetbaggers, sweeping over the world that we knew and loved, buying it up, and living in it. If that’s the reason behind Bauerlein’s rant, we can forgive him—but not believe him.

I fear, though, the reason for the book might simply be to sell the book. After all, who writes an incendiary title like The Dumbest Generation and then follows it with an incendiary subtitle like How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future and then follows it with an incendiary sub-subtitle in parentheses like (Or, Don’t Trust Anyone Under 30)?

That’s not a title. That’s a snake-oil sales pitch. It’s a barker’s patter. “Step right up! See the dumbest generation ever! Just pay $24.99, and you’ll get an eyeful! That’s it. Stand just here as I pull back the curtain. Yessir, that’s a mirror!”

Interestingly, those under 30 aren’t buying Bauerlein’s book.

—Rob