The Dumbest Generation

I think it's the opposite we are smarter but can be more self centered. Technology has spoiled us to a degree but not dumber!!!

There are many different levels and metrics for inteligence. Reasoning Skills, Emotional inteligence, Practical knowledge bases on technical or specialized skills are rarely discussed. Our generation is having to learn more and utelize and develop skills that weren't even on the horizon for our parents generation. Perhaps there are less stephen hawkings but our generation is already taking the reins of power, and is being active in government because we have recognized our stakes in the political process. The boomers are throwing all of thier burdens onto us and assigning us blame. I don't think so. We are the ones who will take care of their social security thier environmental damage, thier defecit, and its thier education policies that are partialy culpable if we are the "dumbest" generation doesn't that mean that the previous generation was the most irresponsible because it didn't improve the educational opportunities for the generation that followed. For the first time in recent American history the majority of students don't feel they will be as 'well off' as their parents. That is more disconcerting than anything this study has to say.

A reason to be glad I'm over 30!

Not another one of these morons.

Just trying to sell his books, we probably know more than he does.

"o no! i can prove that im not just criticizing a generation younger than mine because I don't understand them! i did research!"
as usual, certain old people who can't deal with change ridicule the youth, like the archaic 60 minutes and its millenials story

I think we're better at certain things and worse at certain other things. I'm smart because I wont criticize the author until I read the book.

I think that this whole my "generation is dumbest by far" is absurd. Who is the generation responsible for causing global warming? And now who is going to need to repair that? I believe it was a group of TEENAGERS who sought out a way to decompose a plastic bag in three days, one of the biggest environmental concerns. We're not dumb, just spoiled. I have the utmost faith in my generation.

OMG wer not dum.
yer jus jelus.
gen y jus do stuf fastr...

But then again, smart demographic research suggests a large share of the book buying public would be between 30-60, so why not pander to your target demographic?

That would be like a NeoCon Texas oilman running for national office criticizing his/her ideological adversary as an elitist liberal, tree-hugging pansy.

Good formula... Seems to be working pretty well for Karl Rove's pocketbook.

In a generation that spawned Britney Spears, Lindsy Lohan and Paris Hilton; how can one NOT think this upcoming generation isn't a bunch of morons?

I'm from this generation and seeing the popular movies and the things that people like, the stupid Youtube videos, the girls gone wild, the guys gone wild, the need to be with so many people just to taste life, the TV relaity shows they like from MTV and VH1 (The Hills, Tela Tequila the whore, The eX-factor), and the constant ME, ME, ME thinking, and the way people treat their parents and family proves to me that this very well could be the dumbest generation ever.

There are the select few that care to alter that. More power to them!

I look at this and think (grudgingly, since I am part of the generation he is talking about) in a way I agree. Personally I try not to get caught up in the really, really, really, dumb things that I see my generation buying into. But then I think wait, I just said buying into, and that's because that is what it is. It's Mark Bauerlein's (the author of the book) generations job to sit around and think up new ways to sell us crap that not only do we not need but that simultaneously sucks values that were previously treasured right down the drain.

Dangit now I'm going to have to read the book. :)

maybe.
: (

Hi, my name is PajamaDan,... and my generation (30 & under) is among the stooppidesst!

Text messages, phone calls, MySpacers, YouTubers, fake instrument video games, reality TV, more votes for American Idol than prez, lathargy toward knowledge, learning, school, books, et cetera, ad infinitum,...

These are the voyages of the Starship DumbGeneration!
Kids are the future! Oh, crap!
END TRANSMISSION

A lot of mixed feelings on this one.

He's just angry that there is a new culture arising that he doesn't understand.

there were people like britney spears and paris hilton in the 60s and 70s. the only difference now is that everyone has a camera and these people are followed around. young people being stupid is nothing new.

is our generation doing a pretty poor job of representing itself? in some cases yes. however, many others of us go to school and work and have families. a love of books and a love of text messaging are not mutually exclusive. culture and language are always evolving, it's nothing new.

As someone exactly 30, I know that I fall into the older generation, mostly because I have spent the last 4 years in college and around those younger than myself. I have seen both ends of the spectrum, some people are dumb as rocks, God only knows how they got into college, and others are truly mature and intelligent, have goals and their use of technology is sometimes better than mine. However, it is true that the vast majority does not fall into the latter category. I am amazed by how students at a university that is supposed to by their own words be about learning tolerance cannot stand for a group of pastors to exercise first amendment rights to preach on a university campus, and they scream and shout as if the only words they know are f*^k you, and cannot seem to grasp the notion that if you disagree walk away, they aren't hurting you. This is the things that older generations see and think "dumb kids" not to mention all the times that they try to impart a great amount of knowledge to a younger member of their family only to be met with rolling eyes and attitudes for "wasting their time", I have seen older generations adore this generation and in their own families the totally unruly self interest of that child destroys the older person, their families are what mean the most to them, not a new iphone etc.
Yes the world and culture are evolving, but there is also something to be said for manners and for being able to spell correctly and not in text message form. Other languages such as french have two terms for you, one that is familiar and one that is formal. Our language used to have it to, it was sir and m'am. Kids don't use that anymore, the generation has lost that in its "evolving".

Oh also the level of mercury based substances was raised for several years in vaccinations, for no actual reason other than to make more money for drug companies, and that contributed to a lower overall IQ testing and higher rates of autism in this generation than in any other. Corporate America wanted to save a buck, so poisoning our kids was ok.

I don't see our generation as dumber. More apathetic and self-centred, definitely.

and instead of helping us the younger generation that will help the older ones with our taxes what do they do??? just point the finger at us for being dumb....
and I forget, who were the ones who made a substantial differences in the primaries this year? huh? yea us....

to be aware that some of us are dumb and choose not to buy into MySpace and TMZ.com and things of that nature proves that some of us are intelligent enough to choose not to care about such things...

Exactly HOW is this different from my parents who grew up in the 70s? My dad lost friends who tripped acid and drilled holes in their head for enlightenment.

If anything this generation is more open to new ways to approach old problems -- such as biodiesel, solar and wind powers, the downsides to nuclear energy, communicating via the internet, and I could go on and on.

My mother cannot figure out how to configure her email program, let alone the VCR clock, or how to drive aggressively. Yet she manages, day in and out, to balance a CHECKBOOK (yes, she still writes checks), and she can operate such high tech devices as her gas stove, cooktop coffeepot, but her cell phone which she disconnected the landline for, she cannot figure out how to read a text message. Sometimes she cannot even answer it.

I am not knocking the oldering generations for being incapable of learning the multitudes of user interfaces and operation strategies, but for christ's sake she can't even drive a manual transmission. I know more people in their 20s who OPTED for a manual "because it is different, not the norm, and frankly it has withstood the test of time" than people who didn't have the OPTION to drive an automatic in their 20s. My mother simply never learned, her dad said she was too special to need to know the hard ways of life.

I guess I am one of those smart kids, I mean I understand the basics of how to compile software under linux, but I am far from making my own custom tailored distribution.

I read. It's called ebooks, blogs, and RSS feeds. These forms are just as valid as the paper that drove the previous generations news and texts of all sorts. The difference is that I need a single notebook to hold all of my data, they would need suitcases to lug their physical media around in.

That said, we do have some dumb ones among us. Like those who seriously think that a Dodge Neon SRT4 is both safe and stylish with its 20MPG economy and 0-60 of 12 seconds. Or those who had no idea that drinking only soda pop wouldn't lead to kidney stones. Wait, both of those can be applied to EITHER the new or older generations...

I guess my cynicism is showing, huh?

Nothing has changed. This is a ploy to sell books. We have been the few intelligent and the mass ignorant for a VERY long time, the trend is not yet receding.

I detest sweeping generalizations like "dumbest generation'. My personal observation reveals a minority that are in touch and engaged with the world around them to an unprecedented extent. But I also see too many that are detached to the point of mindlessness.

Unfortunately, their parents and grandparents must shoulder some of the blame. Has it not been our responsibility to educate these young people? Are we not the ones who have been in charge?

We cannot blame the students when we continuously lower the bar. It is we, the adults, that set the standards and fail to enforce them .

well stupid is as stupid does.....life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get

I personally don't see any difference between how dumb we were as the 90s and millennial generation with our Britney Spears, and the 80s with their ugly ass fashion, or with the 70s with their Disco+Coke=Good Times formula.

There are a lot of dumb people in our generation as well as a lot of smart people just like any other generation in America. The main problem with today's youth is not intellectual, though, some of these "dumb" kids have highly developed technological skills through the aid of computers and video games. Research on video games and the brain actually show that video games are good for the brain! The issue that needs to be addressed is the youth's lack of motivation to get out there and actually make an impact on the world. I have written several research papers about this and related topics and it can even be hard to get some of these kids to participate in filling out a survey! Paper, Pen, a bur.. bur. where's my laptop?!

"The issue that needs to be addressed is the youth's lack of motivation .........."

There was a movie a few years back called "Failure to Launch". Perhaps it is time for another one called "Failure to Engage".

I was discussing my teenage son's upcoming high school placement with his middle school counselor. I told her that although he got good grades in his above grade level courses, I felt the school had failed him by failing to spark in him any interest in anything.

She shrugged.

Shame on her, shame on the teachers and shame on me. How is it that we can not provoke our children to be interested in the world we live in?

Every population and generation is full of morons, also known as the masses. This is nothing new. I know I'm sicked by the idiocy of my peers, but I'm also sickened by the idiocy of people over thirty...it makes no difference what your age, race, creed or nation is. You're going to have morons.

there's been hordes of dumb people every generation... it's just it's more magnified now thanks to media saturation and technological advancement to help dumb people share their un-wisdom with the rest of the world...
Also, with our population increase over the last generations, it also just seems like there are tons more really dumb people...

Considering that just about everyone I know who's my age or younger (I'm 30) seems to get their news online, and all of my older counterparts still rely on the freakshow that is Cable and network news, I'm pretty sure I know which generation is more informed.

I'm personally sick of these intellectual attacks on my generation and the parallel attacks on what is being dubbed "the rise of the amateur" in similar circles. Guess what, I'm a two-time college dropout, not because I'm an idiot, but because our educational system simply did not work for me. I've carved out a wildly successful career as an interactive designer/developer without the help of this educational system, and more importantly I've taken it upon myself to stay informed about the most pressing issues facing our country. Of course I'm sure the authors of studies like this would simplistically look at my dropout and dub me to be 'dumb'.

Conversely, I know people with several masters degrees who now directly participate in the payola racketeering of the pharmaceutical industry and are too obtuse to see how harmful their profession is.

I wish I knew who to quote for this:

"If this generation had to follow directions on how to have sex, humans would become extinct."

I love how some people generalize that all Internet users under 30 are dumb just because of a small percent that use it for stupid reasons. No everyone in my generation is a complete moron. It's a few hooligans that make the rest of us look bad. The Internet is as "dumb" or "smart" as the surfer makes it.

PS- Go Gaia Online!

i dont think you can generalize as far as to say a whole generation is dumb. every generation has its faults and its not so intelligent people. being a part of this generation i dont believe i am dumb or any of my friends are either. we are all politically aware and care about what happens in the world and value education. yeah we can probably be superficial at times as a generation but we are still young, we have time to grow up and change the world for the better!

The Dumbest Generation - i wrote the author of this book explaining my arguments about it, explaining, that i was an only child and have no immediate family, am i dumb if i'm self-successful? no, am i dumb because i watch the history channel, national geographic, and keep my eyes open to new possibilities like zietgiest movie? yes i believe was the answer

Hey some had disco and coke, and some had...well youtube.

Just a different generation.
not dumber.

"Dumber" is so subjective. There are many different types of intelligence.

BUT, if this generation is "dumber" it is because the advertisers and market strategists of the older generation sold us this mentality through celebrating the worst of our values, mindless entertainment, and treating us like an another source of income rather than the future. Been down the cereal isle lately?

I'm part of the over-30 generation, and the view from here ain't so brilliant, either.

This is just a self-righteous screed aimed at self-loathing parents who hate their kids because they hate themselves. It should sell wildly.

Before my job at Panasonic was outsourced to Manila, I used to help customers with their technical questions and problems using various equipment...

In essence, I was a Tech Rep.

Let me tell you something...

The more functions you pack into any device, the higher the chance that the unit in question will fail because you are using the same pathways for the electricity and it doesn't matter what you use whether it is old time wiring or the printed circuits everything breaks down over time.

If you have a device that does less and is well built it will last longer.

And do you ever try to read the manuals?

Hah!

The joke is on you for many of them are written in

JAPAN and then translated and they aren't really written by regular folks but techs who never really get out into the world.

One more thing...

Don't knock your parents for having a rough time with
the new technology...

Guess what?

It can be a lot simpler and if it was it would sell a lot better!

Word of mouth is still a great way of selling or making sure that any product bombs....

dcrc9596,

On vaccinations I beg to differ...

Childhood diseases such as Measles, mumps and the like ...

KILL CHILDREN...

That's what happened before vaccines!

And anyway...

It happens to be against the law for kids to go to school without being properly vaccinated!