Is Society Dumbing Down?

Back in 2008, the British Library issued a report on the research habits and information literacy of the Google Generation. By noting research sources, times spent on research pages as well as the pages read of the articles on said pages, statistics and deductions influenced the view of how a modern college student studies their subjects.

            The conclusions, though ambiguous, certainly didn’t reflect positively on thorough research: “60 percent of e-journal users view no more than three pages [of a given text]” and “up to 65 percent never return” to their source. Combined with “power-browsing”, the skimming of titles and table of contents, the cherry picking of sentences from a text containing the ideal supportive point may leave out or even just blatantly ignore factual evidence that could help a thesis, or possibly refute it, leaving the given information possibly lacking or unusable.

            The transition from book based learning to Internet research that some, like Steven Johnson, writer for the Guardian, may suggest as progress (here) can actually play into a “shallow, horizontal… behavior in digital libraries”.

            This leaves an interesting conflict: Can young people improve “information literacy” with “the widening access to technology”? Will “quick wins” through Internet shortcuts benefit or harm the integrity of a piece, and can the masses understand their informational needs?

            If the Internet is used for proper research, it can be an immensely helpful tool. However, most don’t use this to their advantage, searching databases for hotlinks and quick citations.

Source:

Bauerlein, Mark. “‘Society is Dumbing Down’.” Brainstorm. The Chronicle of Higher      Education (13 Feb 2008): Weblog.            http://chronicle.com/blogs/brainstorm/society-is-dumbing-down/5698.