Our Generation is Stupid? Page 3

Started by Puddle January 28th, 2014 5:21 AM
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  • 56 replies

Bounsweet

Fruit Pokémon

Seen September 17th, 2018
Posted October 11th, 2017
2,102 posts
15.6 Years
I'm sorry but LMFAO at your professor. We have 5x the amount of words in our language than we did in Shakespearean times. We also come across more information in a week's worth of the New York Times than what most people came across in a lifetime in the late 1800s. I can't source either of those, unfortunately, but I remember my career planning professor showing us an educational video with those statistics.

Anyway, I use whatever words best describe whatever I'm talking about. I don't care if I come off as pretentious if I use a word that isn't exactly common, but I feel best describes a situation. Get learnt, son.

As far as our generation, we get a pretty bad rep imo. We're often labeled the most selfish generation but surprise, surprise, the baby boomers had that reputation from their preceding generations when they were roughly our age, too.

A lot of it is probably ageism, but it is true that we are currently living in a generation that has had the most educational and technological growth than any other time in history. I do feel like that fact in itself is a factor in the growth of our generation.

I actually have high hopes for our generation, just give us another fifteen to twenty years. I feel we're currently the most sociologically advanced generation, and that things are starting to move into the right direction morally. Of course, that's subjective, though.

Evanlyn

Kidneys! I've got new kidneys!

Age 27
Female
The TARDIS
Seen January 15th, 2015
Posted December 25th, 2014
256 posts
11.9 Years
Well, everyone's different. There's the people who don't tend to use proper spelling or grammar, and then there's the people who do. However, with texting, Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook, and other websites of the sort, proper grammar/spelling is falling away. People just type whatever's quickest, and ignore the rules of English. And, unfortunately, that then influences the younger generation, and so forth. There is potential for it to go downhill, and I think it probably will, but there are the people who still use spelling and grammar properly. For example, there's a lot of people I've seen on here who do, so there is hope!

Also, I haven't met many young people who read a lot, which is disappointing, because reading is amazing.

I do agree with you on learning important things, but I think there has to be a certain amount of desire to learn it. I mean, if you force them to learn, then chances are they'll forget it after the test. If they want to learn it, and you teach them it, then they'll be more likely to remember.

Tek

Age 33
Male
Kansas City
Seen 2 Days Ago
Posted May 1st, 2020
939 posts
9.6 Years
Anyway, I use whatever words best describe whatever I'm talking about. I don't care if I come off as pretentious if I use a word that isn't exactly common, but I feel best describes a situation. Get learnt, son.
"Get learnt, son" has just been appropriated. Kthx

As far as our generation, we get a pretty bad rep imo. We're often labeled the most selfish generation but surprise, surprise, the baby boomers had that reputation from their preceding generations when they were roughly our age, too.

...

I actually have high hopes for our generation, just give us another fifteen to twenty years. I feel we're currently the most sociologically advanced generation, and that things are starting to move into the right direction morally. Of course, that's subjective, though.
From a developmental perspective, there's a perfectly logical reason that the newest generation would be the most selfish generation. Everyone basically starts off as a selfish organism, after which we learn to care for an ever-widening group of others. Our generation has had the least amount of physical time to develop advanced worldviews. Developmental growth can be accelerated, but it's generally a messy, fluid affair that progresses in fits and starts.


Another factor in the perception of our generation being a stupid one is the perennial tendency to compare the worst of 'modernity' with the best of 'antiquity' - metaphorically speaking - and then conclude that everything is only getting worse.

In fact, anytime someone says that world is only getting worse, I mentally prepare a spiel regarding the increasing intensity of both possible dignities and possible disasters that come with every new evolutionary epoch. Or something to that effect but less highbrow, depending on present company.

Entermaid

Non-binary
The States
Seen November 6th, 2016
Posted October 27th, 2016
2,138 posts
10.4 Years
Language should be used with precision. Though, I will admit fault for not using the best, or most appropriate, diction.

Many words lose their original meaning. For instance, "this cake is exceptionally divine and decadent." What?

At a certain point, the language we use becomes nonsensical. We simply repeat phrases over and over again. This works well in a non-academic setting, expediting the time it takes to convey a thought to another person.

However, in academia, language really should be precise. Hackneyed phrases become hackneyed lines of reasoning. Overused, no critical thought.

I am sure there is plenty of that going on in this very paragraph. Though, I try my best to avoid buzzwords in my academic writing. Informally, in a non-academic setting, I don't see the problem with using hackneyed phrases and such; why should we invest effort in trying to discover new ways to phrase things when, we just need to communicate a piece of information?

Anyway, language considered "undeveloped" or "unskilled" isn't necessarily something to look down upon. Rather, I'd consider, in an informal setting, and in certain career settings, esoteric information and language can bog down the process of communication. Though, in academia, is necessary and specialized.

Thus, why different fields of study have specialized dictionaries/terminology for similar words. Just use wikipedia a few times and see "disambiguous" and then list a variety of fields of study.

Uh, back on topic. (Now I am second-guessing all of my hackneyed phrases)

The point is that language is evolving and becoming more and more understood among different cultures then any other time. The complexity and compartmentalization of diction in different academic disciplines also signifies a better understanding of shared language among professionals.

From a language standpoint, I'd say we are becoming more efficient, or smarter, for lack of a better phrase.
#Team Popplio & Brionne
Male
Furginia, Mewnited States
Seen July 13th, 2016
Posted September 10th, 2015
44 posts
9.7 Years
http://www.livescience.com/37095-humans-smarter-or-dumber.html
Since IQ, or intelligence quotient, tests have been revised and standardized several times in the past 100 years, to see the Flynn effect, scientists have their volunteers take tests designed for previous generations. Flynn and his colleagues have found that all around the world, the new generations score higher on the old tests than the original test takers did.

The increases are no small matter, either — they vary by geography, but tend to be around three extra IQ points per decade.
In November 2012, Stanford University School of Medicine researcher Gerald Crabtree published two papers in the journal Trends in Genetics suggesting that humanity's intelligence peaked between 2,000 and 6,000 years ago.

Crabtree based this assertion on genetics. About 2,000 to 5,000 genes control human intelligence, he estimated. At the rate at which genetic mutations accumulate, Crabtree calculated that within the last 3,000 years, all of humanity has sustained at least two mutations harmful to these intellect-determining genes (and will sustain a couple more in another 3,000 years).

I don't know if people are more or less intelligent, but I think people are becoming more knowledgeable.

Monophobia

Already Dead

Age 23
Male
Ohio, U.S.A.
Seen August 15th, 2015
Posted July 29th, 2015
294 posts
9.2 Years
I think it all comes down to speed these days. Certainly "k ttyl ily" is faster than "Okay, talk to you later. I love you." especially when using an older phone. iDevice and other touch-screen users have no excuse, really. Typing on those keyboards is hardly difficult or time-consuming! I admit I do struggle when using candy-bar styled phones, though.

I'm not going to excuse those who type things like "boi" instead of "boy" because there's no real time-saving that comes from that kind of spelling.
Gambler of Fate