Will screens effectively dumb down future generations?

christine86

My query is:
Will the fact that most adults and children now are glued to one screen or the other affect their mental capacity for the future? We can already see that children's spelling is going down hill rapidly due to the text message language. What I am trying to find out is are there going to be long term effects that we haven't yet determined due to the fact that most people now stare at a screen at least once a day for work or pleasure? Does anyone know of any studies or literature that has been conducted on this topic?

Thanks in advance!

ShiverinEskimo

In my day you were a geek if you knew how to programme the VCR to record TV.

It scares me to think with the iPad generation will be capable of when they are my age.

o1s1n

What had a screen got to do with mental capacity?

What if they are using said screens to read advanced maths texts and the works of Plato?

Its all all about the content, not the delivery mechanism.

Scavenger XIII

o1s1n wrote: »

What had a screen got to do with mental capacity?

What if they are using said screens to read advanced maths texts and the works of Plato?

Its all all about the content, not the delivery mechanism.

Thread over.

Might as well question paper as a delivery mechanism because some people are printing OK magazine on it, because you could just as easily use the same paper to print A Brief History of Time.

Skerries

wasn't there a quote posted there recently about a school teacher from the turn of the last century complaining about kids using their new fangled paper as opposed to chalk and slate

plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose

Mr Bloat

christine86 wrote: »

My query is:
Will the fact that most adults and children now are glued to one screen or the other affect their mental capacity for the future? We can already see that children's spelling is going down hill rapidly due to the text message language. What I am trying to find out is are there going to be long term effects that we haven't yet determined due to the fact that most people now stare at a screen at least once a day for work or pleasure? Does anyone know of any studies or literature that has been conducted on this topic?

Thanks in advance!

I don't necessarily think that looking at screens is dumbing down the population. People will take what they want from technology and use it either to entertain or educate. People have been staring at screens on a daily basis since TV was invented and can choose to watch inane reality tv or educational documentaries.I think it's reasonable to assume that people will do the same for tablet/phones/computers. Those that would educate themselves will use technology to their advantage, those that will use devices to consume entertainment would have done that anyway with another medium.

ShiverinEskimo wrote: »

In my day you were a geek if you knew how to programme the VCR to record TV.

It scares me to think with the iPad generation will be capable of when they are my age.

I certainly don't think that the ability to use an iPad is any indicator of mental competence. They are designed to be used by the least tech savvy of people. The ability to install Candy Crush doesn't make someone a tech genius.

Robert ninja

Everyone's just glued to their phones, nobody talks to each other anymore!

Corkfeen

Every generation has been accused of being dumbed down in some sense. When the novel first came into being, people viewed it as a time wasting exercise in much the same way as many people view gaming.

However it obviously was not, I'm in my early twenties and some of the most intelligent people I know, game on occasion. Two of which are doing Phds in subjects that I can never claim to have a deep knowledge of. Gaming is in its infancy but is already capable of provoking thought, my English portion of my degree was studied because of my love of reading but the history portion of it was done as a result of games such as Age of Empires and Medal of Honour.

Then there's the factor that any stimulation is beneficial for the brain when done in moderation. I was also an internet user since i was about ten and I really think it helped to nurture my brain, I constantly learn new things and love knowledge. Sure, you'll get people who don't benefit and technology doesn't benefit their intelligence but you really can't claim that it's going they'd be much more intelligent if it didn't exist. As a whole, we'll benefit.

ArseBurger

It has already happened. Generation Y.

Sarky

It may further polarise people:

Dumb people will still watch sh*tty braindead telly or play big dumb shallow games, and people interested in learning and broadening horizons will still do that. Same as with television, same as with the printing press.

The only real change is that technology now lets it happen much, much faster. Logical links will be drawn quicker in research, conclusions leapt towards more rashly by asshats, that sort of thing. Plato was complaining about the previous generation 2,000 years ago, nothing significant has changed since.

ShiverinEskimo

Mr Bloat wrote: »

I
I certainly don't think that the ability to use an iPad is any indicator of mental competence. They are designed to be used by the least tech savvy of people. The ability to install Candy Crush doesn't make someone a tech genius.

Neither do I. But an entire generation is now being born into an internet age with umpteen ways to access it including such devices like iPads and mobiles. I've seen 2 and 3 year olds doing things with touch-screen devices that 50/60 year olds can't.

Geeks are responsible for advancing the human race in my mind, where they were a minority in my generation and almost non-existent in the previous generation now we have an entire generation of the equivalent. Easy access to infinite knowledge, sure they might just play candy crush, but long gone are the days where your teacher was the go-to source of knowledge on everything.

CiDeRmAn

The future is going to be built on easy access to information and media, at will, from any number of devices, either tangible things we carry like tablets and phones, wearable displays that are either integrated into jewellery, glasses and watches or the displays and hardware may be grafted in, like active contact lenses and flexible organic computers and bio-batteries.
And that stuff is all in the next 10 years or less.
After that it'll probably get really weird, and unless we are willing to climb onboard and probably get some surgery, we'll be left behind.

Grumpypants

I have learnt far more from my screens than I ever did in school. My spelling is one thing that has come on a lot. What used to be borderline gibberish is now borderline English. Spell check and the grammar police did help.

The question isn't really that kids or adults are glued to screens it is what they are looking at. The biggest problem now is the availability of information means you no longer have to be exposed to varied opinions. You can quite happily find your niche and stay there, getting news and opinions that only back up and support your way of thinking.

That is not necessarily a good thing.

Retr0gamer

Been addicted to videogames since I was small.

That never stopped me:

Acing my Leaving Cert
Coming first in my Degree course
Getting a PhD

I'm now teaching chemistry at degree level.

Yeah TV and those games really dumbed me down.

ShadowHearth

Is it me or just someone doing his paper for uni on such topic and just wants their job to be done by forum?

CiDeRmAn

ShadowHearth wrote: »

Is it me or just someone doing his paper for uni on such topic and just wants their job to be done by forum?

Bugger!
Never thought of that.
Hate when psychologists and other members of the MDT pull that crap in work, have my staff and I do all the work for them, I'm a Clinical Nurse Manager working on a unit for men with challenging behaviour and have enough to do!

Shiminay

Grumpypants wrote: »

The question isn't really that kids or adults are glued to screens it is what they are looking at. The biggest problem now is the availability of information means you no longer have to be exposed to varied opinions. You can quite happily find your niche and stay there, getting news and opinions that only back up and support your way of thinking.

That is not necessarily a good thing.

A thousand times this! We see it every single day on Boards.

Combine this with the rather unfortunate knock on effect from "social" media that re-enforces the idea that "I have an opinion that I will bl33t to the world and it's right and no one is allowed to even dare to question it" are the most significant dangers of our current "always online" world.

I'd just like to know when it became a bad idea to keep learning and finding new knowledge. We need to make that the norm again.

eddhorse

The only thing I would be worried about are eye issues in later life. But sure there will be an eye fixing app by the time that happens.

Taylor365

ShadowHearth wrote: »

Is it me or just someone doing his paper for uni on such topic and just wants their job to be done by forum?

If it is, god help us all.

The question is phrased similar to 'Will looking through a window make future generations illiterate?'.

ShadowHearth

Taylor365 wrote: »

If it is, god help us all.

The question is phrased similar to 'Will looking through a window make future generations illiterate?'.

I am pretty sure that "the screen" is not ment to be understood directly. Its a way of saying that kids are glued to all new technilogy like TV, Computers, Smartphones and how will it effect it kids of future generation.
Such topic ( first topic in games section ) coming from someone who joined boards less then a month ago using such phrasing feels like someone is lazy to do their own research for their UNI work and want to get easy info and meterial from forums. To make it even worse OP is not eve direct or open with it.

Maybe OP is just a curiuos gamer who just joined Boards.ie and gaming forum, but for me it smells cheeky.

djkeogh

this thread reminds me of that film "Idiocracy". Could happen. Just saying

Supermensch

Read a book there relating to this, The Shallows. But the OP is a bit vague, as in it potentially encompasses screens being used to read books off of and such.

ScumLord

Kids today need a very different set of social skills to even my generation that grew up in the 80s. They can do things the older generation just can't because technology is a fundamental part of their world and that wasn't the case 15 years ago. If we could compare intelligence between people from the 50s and people from today I think you'd find people of today just have better information thanks to science.

It's a bit like a farmer compared to a accountant, both have learned skills that help them survive in their own environment and either would look stupid if dumped into the others life just because they haven't learned the right skills.

Fnz

christine86 wrote: »

We can already see that children's spelling is going down hill rapidly due to the text message language.

Source? I've heard of at least one study that shows the opposite to be true.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/8468351.stm

K.O.Kiki

ShiverinEskimo wrote: »

In my day you were a geek if you knew how to programme the VCR to record TV.

It scares me to think with the iPad generation will be capable of when they are my age.

VCRs were never hard to use...

ShiverinEskimo

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

VCRs were never hard to use...

Exactly.

Shiminay

They were to someone who's wildest dreams could never have conceived such a thing (your grandparent's generation).

I have a 67 year old mother who having invested the time has now become glued to her phone and computer. It took a lot of work and more patience than early 20s me possessed to explain how it all worked and why it was better, but when it clicked, she was an instant convert.

New tech can be daunting to someone who's never seen it and doubly so when it seems that their juniors seem to instinctively understand it and they feel left behind.

True wisdom lies in knowing that you don't need to be afraid of that which you don't understand

ScumLord

Shiminay wrote: »

I have a 67 year old mother who having invested the time has now become glued to her phone and computer. It took a lot of work and more patience than early 20s me possessed to explain how it all worked and why it was better, but when it clicked, she was an instant convert.

My uncle is like that, he's got himself a laptop, iPad and iPhone now. I think skype has done more for getting the older generation online than anything else, once they see they can contact family anywhere in the world for free, they're hooked.