Researchers Scoff At Google Generation

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8 commentsWednesday, January 16, 2008

Researchers Scoff At Google Generation

The kids are skimming instead of thinking

By WebProNews Staff

The kids may be able to fly around the web at ludicrous speed, but if a basic search can't find what they want, they could have a tough time digging up more information.

The next time your child hands you your cartoon butt in a battle on Acme Arsenal, you can take comfort in the little tyke's relative inability to do the kind of critical, deeper thinking needed to make the most of searching the web.

Maybe that's a petty statement, but after you've had your Foghorn Leghorn handed back to you in extra crispy for the tenth time in a row, you'll take a moral victory over the Google Generation.

Resource Shelf said that Google Generation is a myth anyway. While the young people growing up with high speed Internet and rapid web search, a research paper from the CIBER research team at University College London said the kids have issues when the first page of the search results doesn't have what they want.

"The untested assumption is that this generation is somehow qualitatively 'different' from what went before: that they have different aptitudes, attitudes, expectations and even different communication and information 'literacies' and that these will somehow transfer to their use of libraries and information services as they enter higher education and research careers," the report said.

Those literacies may come at the expense of "creative and independent thinking." Search engines may fit well with the college lifestyle, but when students apply the same habits with more critical sources, like electronic journals and other virtual library resources, they won't retrieve the best results.

News Tags: Search, Education, Library, Research, Google Generation

By Slideri812 (WPN reader) - Thu, 01/17/2008 - 18:09

Sliping away

I agree that that the "Google generation" lacks the ability to think independently, act for them selves without significant reguard for what their peers think and suffer from two gender disease; instant gratification and entitlement.

You may not think that these have anything to do with intellectual and artistic development, but the dependencies created by instant gratification via quick searches, iTunes downloads and IMing stifle an individuals ability to self discover and self gratify. Self gratification is most often not instant, causes one to look deeper within, and strengthens ones self of independent personality.

Entitlement on the other hand is creating a false sense of empowerment; that some how they are better then all other generations before. This is fueled at home, by the non-corrective "everybody's a winner, there really are no losers" attitude of many parents today. And by school systems that are overly confident in the ability of technology to educate. This further separation from the individual human experience is being replaced with collective reasoning, collective approval, and on there own; collective self importance.

The greatest minds of recorded history were often loners, and unconcerned with the opinions of others. Often thought of as "eccentric" in some cases, flat out crazy in other cases. But it is this free and independent thinking that lead to the invention of the light bulb, the phonograph, the first video camera and more.

If the competitive pools that produced these types of people that have played such huge rolls in bringing humanity to this point in time are lost on this generation, heaven help the following generations that may likely be incapable of independent thought as we know it today.

Just my tcw

By Annie (WPN reader) - Mon, 01/21/2008 - 10:31

I certainly agree with you

I certainly agree with you on how this younger generation relies on the internet for answers. Its like a substitute parent yet with no monitoring and guidance to help positive upbringing. Yahoo is the same way. I was appauled last year when I went to Yahoo Answers to inquire about kennels in the community. I noticed lots of questions about homework where in my day, we had to go into the library and look up things on a chronilog catalog which seems prehistoric now a days. Know-it-alls will answer these kids asking for quick answers about their homework without giving thought; they just want to write down someone else's thoughts to satisfy the homework assignment. This is sad especially for teachers today. What kind of grade do teachers give them(knowing they speak " texted abbreviation" and have no creative senses) and then turns in a paper that has outstanding philosophical thought about a subject?

We are rewarding children for low performance skills. This is definitely a set-up for failure because they'll never get to reach their potential. Parents and teachers are catching them before they fall. These kids are softies and babied too long. When will we guide them into the adult world? Life span is greater in the adult world than in childhood. I'm not scared, I'm ashamed of what we are producing. Will this be considered a disability, too? And will my tax dollar foot the bill here, as well because we didn't do a worthwhile job in upbringing?

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