The Smartest Generation Yet

Social media (plural) have not improved or eroded our basic skill set; they have only made it easier to communicate (which most people seem to struggle with). More importantly, there is no dark side to enabling tools that enhance society— there is only unbounded growth.

Mark Bauerlein, Emory University, argues that social media have essentially brainwashed the NetGeners into becoming the "dumbest generation yet." Bauerlein goes on to exclaim how “digital natives […] are using technological advances to immerse themselves in a trivial […] online world at the expense of more enriching activities – like opening a book or writing complete sentences."

I am not one to put down one of my own elders here at Emory, but Professor Bauerlein fails to understand that social media are far from “trivial” and the definition of “enriching activities” is evolving with the growth of social media.

Unlike TV’s push strategy, which allows most viewers to “zone out," the internet uses a pull strategy that demands human interaction. Social media provide efficient means for the collaboration of these enriching activities: filtering headline news stories (RSS), creating web-based encyclopedias (Wiki’s) or building personalized web pages (SharePoint).

Professor Bauerlein’s near-sighted point is reiterated when the absence of these “enriching activities” are presented to parents in “Set childhood Free ‘Where to Keep Your TV and Computers.'" The author points out that toys, arts and crafts, music, books and games must be separated from social media in order to enhance youth and build the family bond.

The internet and social media aren’t jeopardizing family bonds; they are only providing efficient vehicles for bringing the family closer.

Any evidence that supports the notion the social media are eroding morals or degrading skills is purely circumstantial. Social media are only enhancing personal skills and facilitating the correction of questionable morals. Social media are catalysts for the collaborative advancement of society as a whole and trying to regulate or screen them only impedes social progress.

The “experts” who argue that this progress is trivial or “damaging to the youth” fail to realize that they are about to be left behind completely on an immense social movement that began to build momentum a few decades ago and is building up speed with each passing day.