It seems that every generation views bashing the up-and-coming one as a kind of sport, and this one is no exception. Where older folks once lamented rock music and long hair as markers of the end of civilization, now we have teenagers who are ignorant and narcissistic and spend so much time online that they can no longer interact with real people in the real world. Well, Emily Goldwasser at Salon isn't buying it, and she says the internet is not a danger and a disaster for our kids. She's responding in part to a phone survey of teens that showed a "stunning ignorance" of history and literature.
Boy, does she make some good points in this excellent article: She highlights that with blogs and social networking sites, we now have a generation of kids who are (gasp) voluntarily writing. The internet has "created a generation, perhaps the first, of writers, activists, storytellers" and all our screaming isn't going to stop that juggernaut. In addition, the kids today also know how to find information online, and therefore google has freed up their brains to dig deeper into topics. The real problem, it seems, is that this makes us very nervous. "We're afraid. Our kids know things we don't. They drove the
presidential debates onto YouTube and very well may determine the
outcome of this election. They're texting at the dinner table and
responsible for pretty much every enduring consumer cultural
phenomenon: iPod, iTunes, iPhone; Harry Potter, 'High School Musical';
large hot drinks with gingerbread flavoring." You know, I do believe she's right. I just hope when my kid is a teen, she'll have my back.
