Another thought was presented to me when reading a post, this time Matthew's The New Generation. I personally believe that technology won't take part in shaping us as individuals or human beings in general, but usually the main argument regarding being raised by technology in our generation is that it will make us lazy. The positive (or very negative) side of that is that we aren't necessarily being raised as lazy people and plunged into a fast-paced world. Everything is easy and accessible now, and it will remain that way. Many people believe laziness is a growing minority in the technology-headed youth, yet 'growing minority' is really just another term for approaching majority.
Let me put it in different terms, imagine a school with almost all incoming students labeled as average. Then some outside factor or phenomenon causes incoming students at said school to be below average. This continues for years until about 80% of students are below average, with 20% average. The school most likely will not send 80% of their students into a below average class, they will simply retitle below average as average, and the 20% of students that were average are then labeled as above average.
At what point will the 80% of lazy people in our world today become the norm? Our personal outside-factor phenomenon is our daily use of technology, and when we birth the new generation into the technology-driven world, they won't even consider us as lazy or "having it easy" as our elders do. They will think of us and themselves as average, and the only say our elders will have in it is in their books or articles shoved behind the bookshelves or google history to make room for the thoughts and opinions of the incoming generation.
This may just have become evident to me now, but it's probably something repeated throughout time. So while it may seem disappointing, realistically, will it even matter? And to whom?
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One good thing that can come out of that is the 20% who were average and now are above average will more likely contribute to society and become successful and the 80% will either have to pick up the pace or they will continue to fall behind.
ReplyDeleteHey Hanna! You've got a really good point. I especially like your analogy with the school because there couldn't be a better example. There's no doubt that as technology advances more and more, the human race will evolve with it. It's been going on for years, why stop now?
ReplyDeleteI never did see the movie Idiocracy, did you? Read the Wikipedia blurb: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idiocracy
ReplyDeleteAlso, there's something mathematically wrong with "80% of students are below average." Right?
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