All Hail Sources!

I will admit I was interested in the NY Times article, “Growing Up Digital, Wire for Distraction”. I enjoyed the structure of the piece, employing the use of a main character of sorts as we follow the life of 17-year-old student Vishal Singh. I enjoyed hearing the perspectives of Vishal and his friends on how the Internet has impacted their lives personally and academically. I also liked hearing the perspectives of Vishal’s teachers and parents, and how respected experts view the current generation’s technology habits. It wasn’t until I read Don Tapscott’s response on Huffington Post that I realized what the NY Times article was missing: sources. Tapscott’s response quoted studies and research that provided objective evidence of how the Internet and other forms of technology have influenced the current generation.

The biggest reveal was that there is no actual evidence to support the claim that the Net Gen is more distracted than or not as intelligent as previous generations. We’ve been reading article after article making these claims about how destructive the Internet or video games or cell phones have been to our minds and our ability to process information, and every time this claim was made, only anecdotal evidence was given as proof.

Tapscott, author of the book Growing Up Digital, did not fall into the same trap. Instead he actually provided evidence to the contrary. For instance, how IQ scores have actually been increasing over the years, and how the current generation volunteers more than previous generation and follows the D.A.R.E motto and just says no to drugs and alcohol. He also made note that the Internet is not the sole reason for anything. It is not a simple cause and effect for why it seems that some seem to struggle more concentrating in today’s age. Tapscott makes a lovely analogy saying, “[when] it comes to the poor performance of the bottom tier, blaming the Internet is like blaming the library for illiteracy.”

In conclusion, Tapscott provides a sound, objective analysis on this controversial topic of how the Internet is changing us in how we act and think. He doesn’t rely solely on anecdotal evidence one way or the other. He also doesn’t blame the Internet for students’ apparent lack of concentration and intelligence. He makes the incredibly astute observation that the Net Gen is not suffering from attention deficit disorders; they are simply just bored sitting in classes being taught using old methods that simply don’t translate in today’s society.