Are we just tech-savvy dummies?

Kimberley Glascoe
Columnist

American teenagers and 20-somethings are dumb.

At least that’s what everyone’s saying: “Back in my day there were no such things as calculators, iPods, cell phones or computers.”

So what? What’s so wrong with our technology-savvy generation?

Yes, a lot of us do spend more time on our cell phones, tweeting and updating our Facebook statuses than we do reading books, but really, when people look at us as the “new generation,” have they lost all hope?

Face it: We live in the age of technology.

Almost everything we do, we can do from the touch of a button or the flick of a finger. Just because we’re in the “know,” we can automatically be labeled as lazy buffoons. Of course there will always be people who abuse technology, but older generations have a way of stereotyping all of us.

The issue goes both ways and revolves around the issue of convenience. We’re always on the go, and maybe if we had more time to sit and do things, we’d be able to do them the old-fashioned way. When it comes to technology, the same thing that helps us hurts us.

Technology has helped everyone, especially college students, tremendously. One innovation in particular stands out: Google. Personally, I don’t know what I would do without Google. If we didn’t have search engines like Google, we’d still be reliant upon large, multivolume encyclopedias.

If somebody asked you to name every country in Africa, you wouldn’t turn to a map. You’d ask Google. That’s the extent to how much technology has subconsciously managed to dumb us down.

We’ve traded in our calculators and years of high school math for quick fingertips on keyboards. When there’s a question I don’t understand, I don’t hesitate to pull up Google.

I do believe that we should take the initiative to pick up a pencil every once in a while, and do things like we used to. But without technology where would we be – back in the Stone Age?

What we gave up is not equal to what we’ve been able to gain this day in age. I think the older generations should stop living in the past, hop on the hovercraft and come on over to the present.

Technology will never go away; it will only continue to get better and more advanced. Our ability to quickly access information counterbalances whatever “dumbness” our generation exudes. The days of tapping our heads with the tips of our pencils trying to figure out an answer are sadly over, and we 20-somethings don’t mind.