Is New Generation Getting Too Much Info ?

[DragonFire]

When baby boomers were growing up , they had to rely on their skills and had very little info or resources on life and about knowledge . But todays kids have tons of info and endless resources on both life and school. My question is ............ is this helpful for kids or is this the begining of the end for them ?

I personaly think it's more damaging then helping them . Yes there are millions of kids that are doing just fine in life and careers but what about the rest of them ?


This subject also has second part to it.

the second part is ............. parents today with more info on their hands , are they using it to their advantage and raising thier kids better or worst ?

[skier]

Very interesting post, especially coming from a new member. Welcome to TFP Dragonfire.
It's my belief that although the volume of generic information available has practically exploded from as little as 20 years ago, not much of it is accurate and some of it is very misleading to some of the new generation. In that sense yes, it can be damaging. But on the other hand, a child growing up in our current world filled with information will develop a "sorter" of information. That is, I think kids today are better able to pick and choose the good from the bad, and use this to their advantage.

I'm only 18, so I'm not really qualified to judge how things worked in the past, but I find that this bevy of information at my disposal when I need it is quite helpful and is better than learning "the hard way" of trial and error. It's kind of like a support network.

I don't think the amount of resources a child has determines how well he/she succeeds in life, because if he/she doesn't use it, it doesn't even matter if it's there or not.

Anyone else have some ideas on how too much information can be damaging to a child's growth?

[1337haxor]

Well, the more info kids get the more they should be able to do over the last generation.
I get wierd looks from this, but my philsophy is "survival of the fittest". Unfortunately not everyone is going to succeed.

-Robert

[Rodney]

Oh, Lordy, when i think about the information vaccuum we grew up in -- I was a mid-boomer -- I want to cry. Imagine having to look up current info by going down to the library, getting the Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature (an index of recent magazine articles, always six months behind), picking out the issues you wanted to see, and then sending some page out to the stacks to find them for you manually -- if they were even there.

I remember when I was about 12, I ran into a guy who was selling copies of the Berkeley Barb (a famous underground paper from 30-miles-away Berkeley with plenty of graphic ally-illustrated sex ads and pretty subversive articles) in my little straight-laced 'burb. Man, I was the hero of seventh grade for a week.

On the other hand, when we graduated high school, we had actual academic counselors who'd sit down with us and walk us through state scholarship apps, college plans, and so on. A lot of schools today don't have counselors anymore, or maybe 1 per 2000 kids. If you didn't have the Internet, you'd have nothing.

And I do have to say that a lot of boomers, including a lot of my friends, just drifted after high school. Here in California, community college was essentially free, so they'd just keep living at home, taking college courses, changing their major, and goofing around for years. I think that on the whole, we didn't have any more or less direction than kids today. Maybe less, because the good times were still rolling in the 60s and early 70s, and a lot of guys just thought that if nothing else came up in a few years their dad would help get them a soft union job or civil service job and they'd slack for the rest of their lives. And in the meantime, they did a lot of drugs.

I do understand: you have to wonder how well a 12- or 13-year-old can cope with the gush of unfilitered info that comes down the pip to his/her terminal: a million competing ideologies, a zillion possibilities all overloading their little brains. But frankly I'd rather have that than the alternative -- the sort of know-nothing cocoon a lot of people in my generation grew up in.

[Cynthetiq]

Kids need to be educated in slightly different ways to seperate the wheat from the chaff.

I think you'd be interested in this topic...

http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showthr...highlight=mass

[lurkette]

I think the key thing is teaching critical thinking so people develop the ability to sort good information from bad information. Media literacy is key in this, and believe it or not kids are leading the charge. Your average 5-year-old is probably (and your average 14-year-old is certainly) more media-savvy than your average 40-year-old. I think it takes a bit of guidance, though, with parents encouraging their kids to ask questions and think about what assumptions are being made in the information presented to them, what the "author" wants them to think, do, etc.

[tecoyah]

My byline states my take on this issue

Life is pain, Pain is knowledge, Knowledge is life.

I think we require information to make qualified descisions in our lives. Some of this info will be slanted or inaccurate, but as we grow, we are learning how to recognise the difference. Of course much of the "truth" is entirely relative to the individual.
It is the parents job to guide a child thru the onslaught of data and attempt to help youth make some sense of it all, until an individual personality evolves.

There can never be too much information, only too little understanding.

[Bill O'Rights]

Originally posted by lurkette
Your average 5-year-old is probably (and your average 14-year-old is certainly) more media-savvy than your average 40-year-old.

Hey!! I resemble that remark! As a 41 year old, that's bringing up the very back end of the Boomers, (I consider myself a Tweener, actually), I can recall the word of Chet Huntley, David Brinkley and Walter Cronkite as being no less than on a par of the word of god. We just didn't question them.

[yournamehere]

Originally posted by lurkette
Your average 5-year-old is probably (and your average 14-year-old is certainly) more media-savvy than your average 40-year-old.

Well, along with every other generation before them, I'm sure they <i>think</i> they are.

[Rodney]

Originally posted by Bill O'Rights
Hey!! I resemble that remark! As a 41 year old, that's bringing up the very back end of the Boomers, (I consider myself a Tweener, actually), I can recall the word of Chet Huntley, David Brinkley and Walter Cronkite as being no less than on a par of the word of god. We just didn't question them.

I _still_ don't question Walter Cronkite. Everybody else, though, yes.

As for boomer status, I look at it this way: if you're old enough to remember cheap tuition at state colleges and student loans that you could default on without getting nailed -- you're a boomer.

[filtherton]

I think that the amount of info is growing exponentially. As technology aspires to make everything simpler and more convenient, the amount of intellect required to get by increases as well. I think that more info being increasingly available to more people can only be a good thing. If i get curious about something all i have to do is hit a few buttons.

[mystmarimatt]

Originally posted by lurkette
I think the key thing is teaching critical thinking so people develop the ability to sort good information from bad information.

This is a very good point, lurkette.

For a few years now, there has been a major debate in the educational field over which is better for children, to teach them in a style of 'rote-learning', where they are taught, and subsequently given loads of of information to simply soak up and divulge when needed, or the idea that we must teach children to 'think critically' and give a smaller amount of pure information and input, through which they learn to sift and compile their own beliefs.

The primary and secondar educational system in America is leaning towards the 'critical thinking' concept, as a way to prepare them for a future in higher education, which outstandingly practices the 'rote-learning' method. The clincher however, being that critics feel that since not everyone attends college, not everyone can make use of these skills, and perhaps it would be best to treat secondary education as simply where one might end their learning experiences, and go directly into the working world.

I think the best schools are those that that can effectively teach both methods, but, life is never that simple.

[Ballzor]

The basic fact is that the internet has spawned a surplus of information. And much of it goes to waste. We children dont read about how to deal with girls, o no, we read about what goes inside the girls... and What parts to touch, and how to keep it up... ETC
Most kids are dependant on the internet and machines these days, which is going to lead to an interesting future for us all. Perhaps everything will sort itself out and our generation will grow up with a huge base of knowledge that we can rely on and make decisions that are stronger than any other generation.
Or. Were going to truly fuck up. Information on the internet is like a drug, and when its free, your going to take as much of it as you want.. Often the wrong information, A kid who could grow up to run the country instead makes pipe bombs and rapes his girlfriend.
It's a matter of opinion, but truly our generation will be the front of some massive changes. On the plus side, tolerance and acceptance for others is increasing. Other cultures are no longer forign.
My idiotic two cents

[woodhead]

Skier wrote:

"Anyone else have some ideas on how too much information can be damaging to a child's growth?"

One thing I haven't seen mentioned is that the huge volume of available information makes it much easier for a student to plagiarise when writing an essay, especially from those websites dedicated to just this.

When I was studying, there was no web and all of our work was researched in the library. It was much trickier to plagiarise as the lecturers knew the lit pretty well and could spot it a mile away, and in the event that one was caught, it meant instant failure for that subject. One time, my girlfriend was looking through one of my draughts and picked up a new word, which she went on to use in her essay. Sure enough, when the essays were being marked, my lecturer pulled me up and made a few polite enquiries about how much I had contributed to my girlfriend's work. Serious shit for one word.

These days, I am a teacher (private), and I am just sickened how casually my students plagiarise from the web or 'essay resources' for their schoolwork. It's like, 'The information's there, why shouldn't I use it?' Absolutely no thinking required.

Who knows, maybe it's because of the collapse of the Russian educational system, which used to be so strong (in certain ways). How are things in this regard in the West?

[DragonFire]

This subject also has second part to it.

the second part is ............. parents today with more info on their hands , are they using it to their advantage and raising thier kids better or worst ?

[EruptiveDreamz]

I don't think all this information is going to harm tommorows generation .. What I think does do more harm than good is the system and the way it operates. It's so broke down and the information I see being handed thru the system to kids shows lack of respect towards parents trying to parent. Let alone teachers trying to teach. Makes it harder than hell to control a child when the system stands behind the child and gives them all these rights. Hell they have more rights than any parent does. We have the right to face the consequences for the things our kids do wrong.

Can't correct your child without fear of your child turning on you and claiming abuse. Your kid can steal from you and police don't do shit but look at ya tell you how foolish you are for bringing your kid in.. thats your kid. Nothing they can do.

Your kid has a right to break anything in the house as long as it's a room your child has access to everyday. They can punch holes in the wall. Even if they feel they want to knock the whole damn wall down. They can because they live in your house. Thier home.. your house. Tell me how is that right? Kids have more rights over your own house than you do?

From experince my one son learned he could get by with anything. The system was there to protect everything wrong he did. He learned he didn't have to work for anything. It was already there being given to him right on a silver platter. It wasn't until he got sent to a boys state training school did it finally sink in the system was no longer on his side. His comment before going was he never thought the system would do that to him. He had played it for many years. Had the system stood behind me as a parent years before this. Maybe.. just maybe. My child would have turned out to be in a little better position in life than he has been and still is..instead of kicked out at 18 ..no job and toking daily. Whatever job he may get he will have to bust his ass at for the rest of his life. Unless he should have a light go off in his brain somewhere and take advantage of having his GED. And go to college. Then he may have half a chance. I love him .. he's my son .. but I hate having to sit back and watch him learn the hard way. It just kills me inside. And I blame the system. I was a parent willing to work with the system and system wasn't there to work with me as a parent.

I think having all this information is good. Kids are smarter it seems than yesterdays generation. Bad part is they know it.
Used in the right way all the information can be great. I see more young adults anymore that are successful faster in life establishing themselves in the work world. As well as it seems that more kids are in college. For those reasons I think access to information has done wonders just how do you change the system to work with the parents of those kids that are obtaining the information they use to manipulate their way through life.

[Ustwo]

Originally posted by lurkette
I think the key thing is teaching critical thinking so people develop the ability to sort good information from bad information. Media literacy is key in this, and believe it or not kids are leading the charge. Your average 5-year-old is probably (and your average 14-year-old is certainly) more media-savvy than your average 40-year-old.

No mater how much information you give someone, kids are kids. A 5 year old is lucky he doesn't miss the toilet to much while peeing, (if male) and 'savy' is never used to describe one. Every now and then you MIGHT run into a 14 year old with a clue, but let me tell you, I work with mostly 11-16 year olds and they are not more media-savvy. They might know more websites, but their ability to understand the information is piss-poor at best. Thats why they are kids, they are still learning, and are quite easy to fool.

Thats not to say there are not 40 year olds who are clueless. In fact I think most people are quite clueless, but I don't see the kids being a whole lot better at this point. Maybe when they reach 40 things will be different, but right now, no chance.

[World's King]

God Bless Google.

[Arsenic7]

If anything we need more information. Growing up just as personal computers and the internet began to become popular, I can confirm that there is a lot of information out there, but many people still don't take the time to actually INFORM themselves. If we could somehow teach reasoning I think that would help. It's a dificult task though. Certainly extra testing isn't the answer *grumble*

[2kids1headache]

When a person is deluged with information, they create filters to help them ingest it. We can't be sure that the filters the newer generations are developing are intelligent ones, unfortunately.

I think that the availability of information is much more exciting to the older generations, in the same way that a new hearing aid is exciting to someone with hearing problems. Things that you grow up with are things that you take for granted.

That said, it's time to answer the questions:
1) It's hard to make the most of something you take for granted.
and
2) A person will find any excuse to make use of something they find exciting. I'll bet you that a lot of parents are trying to use the information that's out there to their advantage.

Edit: I'm not very coherent, am I?

[txlovely]

I agree with many of the previous statements. As much as I adore the internet and have essentially become dependent upon it, I think it is training children to dismiss reading. Why read a whole book on Benjamin Franklin when you can just look up the talk points on the Web? I have friends with children who are better typists than they are but won't pick up a book.

NOW, before anyone crucifies me, I blame their parents for this for if they were to require their children spend as much if not more time reading as they do on line, there would be a good balance. It seems many parents are lazy - they want to do the minimal amount and call it a day.

Information is only as good as it's user and if the user is not taught to be interpretive, objective and curious, all the information in the world simply stays in a void.