Dysfunctional Society

there's a higher percentage of kids going to college that ever before.
Dixie just hating on his OWN FAMILY
 
While I hate to mention her by name, consider only the latest aspirant for the second highest office in America and you soon realize Churchill was right. "The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter." But then consider conservative msm and the enormous power corporate think tanks have on the likes of Southern Man, Meme, Dixie and others and you have to fear for democracy.

http://www.dumbestgeneration.com/home.html
http://www.prospect-magazine.co.uk/article_details.php?id=10817
Amazon.com: The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future (Or, Don't Trust Anyone Under 30): Mark Bauerlein: Books

http://www.turnoffyourtv.com/commentary/morons/stupid.html

http://www.ted.com/talks/clifford_stoll_on_everything.html

Amazon.com: High-Tech Heretic: Reflections of a Computer Contrarian: Clifford Stoll: Books
 
Dixie said:
Here is a good example of our problem as a society...

My nephew is 14-years-old. Since the time he was old enough to speak, he has had some kind of electronic game in his hands, and he literally spends every waking hour, playing or thinking about some video game. He has somehow managed to get through middle school and is now in high school. His older sister and cousins graduated last year, and went on with their chosen career paths, so this has prompted us relatives to query him about his future plans. Of course, he wants to "design video games" but he confides to me, he is not good at math, hates it... and he hates using the keyboard, can't type a lick.

Now, if we are ever invaded by space aliens from another galaxy, and we have developed a joystick-controlled secret death-ray weapon guided via a monitor, I want him at the controls... I want him to be the one shooting them down! He is great at that! But as I tried to explain to my nephew, what he wants to go into, will require him to know and understand math, and be able to efficiently use a keyboard. There is just no way around it, if you want to be a video game designer.

This brings me to our problem. Are my nephew's parents going to push him to bone up on his math? Are they going to make him take the courses to learn keyboard functions and coding formulas required for his chosen field? Nope... they are going to sit on their lazy asses letting him play his games, until he is left behind by those who have a greater motivation to succeed and realize what it takes. As a result, he will most likely never become a video game developer, he will end up working in some trivial low-wage job, or on disability, because he can't function without a video game in his hand.

I am sure this is not an isolated situation, there are many young people out there, who have been spoiled their entire life, and have no clear direction for their future. Teachers and Parents seem to be completely oblivious to this, allowing the "kids to be kids" and not taking a proactive role in developing their future, or helping them to prepare for what they want to do in life. My nephew, if he applied himself and began preparing now, would probably be a phenomenal video game developer. But what he needs is for someone to kick his ass and make him do the hard work now, to prepare him for what he will need to know in the future. No one is willing to do that. Not the schools, not the guidance counselors we're paying for, not his parents.

I believe this is why we currently have an entire generation (or more) of absolute nitwits, who have been spoiled their entire life, who have had no direction or discipline, and who live inside a video game, away from the realities of the rest of the world. Common sense, logic, and reason, don't apply to video games, you can make anything happen to anything. Nothing has to make sense, nothing has to conform to any sense of morals or ethics, and life is but a game. I think since the days of "Dr. Spock", we stopped parenting, and we have been sliding on the slippery slope ever since.
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They said the same thing about our generation because of TV and Rock albums and look how fucked up you turned out. Good point Dixie! :pke:
 
Ice Dancer said:
I think you missed his point. Studies have shown that too much electronics with todays kids is actually harmful to their ability to study and sit through things like lectures and absorb information, especially as most of them are using multiple media at the same time, i.e. ipod in ears while surfing the net and texting friends.

The Myth of Multitasking
Submitted by Don Berg
Here's a perspective to consider:

Our brains are not actually capable of "multi-tasking." What we call multitasking is actually rapidly switching from task to task, which has the result of diminishing our ability to think clearly about each task. Since we have a limited perceptual and cognitive bandwidth as human beings and each switch actually demands extra bandwidth, the net result is a loss of quality for each task.

Here's a video that explains it:
YouTube - Dave Crenshaw & The Myth of Multitasking
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I don't mean to scare you ID but I actually agree with you about multi-tasking. We become good at doing complex task quickly but in the process we fail to develop our critical thinking skills.
 
I've actually listened to lectures on my IPod while doing manual labor at Popeye's before, but that's really a different type of multi-tasking, because you can pretty much focus all your attention on both tasks.
 
Adam Weinberg said:
I don't really think the worry is valid. Gifted and creative people of all sorts have always been accused of being spaced out on one thing or another. Sure, people who are dependent on conveniences and technology can have mush for brains, but it's likely that precedes their addiction with the gadget whatever that may be.

If the kid is thinking critically about games and really wants to go for it, let him get lost in it. Many of the exceptional people I know grew up like this as teens. Certainly there needs to be educational follow through, but there's a lifetime of experience needed to build on these kinds of dreams.
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Actually I think her point is quite valid. My job is administrative and multitasking on the computer all day definately comes at the expense of other skills I've developed over the years. Needless to say I hate it. One application in particular I hate is SAP which often takes away my professional judgement on the basis of SAP doesnt make spelling errors. It's asinine.
 
Ice Dancer said:
The point was that the protracted use of multiple media, effects in a negative way, a child's ability to focus and learn well.

That parents have a responsibility to limit a child's use of electronics, was, a point I believe that Dixie's post illustrated.

Hitting children is always wrong. Administering a spanking appropriately can be a positive tool for discipline between the ages of 4 and 7 with most children. Many parents do not understand the concept of approriate use.

Your stupid accusation that conservatives love to hit their kids is proof of your hateful partisanship.
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Exactly. When I was a kid and came home from school I couldn't just plop down in front of the boob tube with a snack. I had to do chores, then homework and then had to play outside till dinner was ready. In the evening we could watch TV but as a family. Of course we were limited to 3 channels back then. LOL Still, my point being the mediam may have changed but human nature hasn't.

On the topic of of corporeal punishment. There's an appropriate time and place for that. My parents spanked me and look how I turned out. :)
 
Mottleydude said:
Exactly. When I was a kid and came home from school I couldn't just plop down in front of the boob tube with a snack. I had to do chores, then homework and then had to play outside till dinner was ready. In the evening we could watch TV but as a family. Of course we were limited to 3 channels back then. LOL Still, my point being the mediam may have changed but human nature hasn't.

On the topic of of corporeal punishment. There's an appropriate time and place for that. My parents spanked me and look how I turned out. :)
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Which one are you, Mott?

 
Mottleydude said:
Exactly. When I was a kid and came home from school I couldn't just plop down in front of the boob tube with a snack. I had to do chores, then homework and then had to play outside till dinner was ready. In the evening we could watch TV but as a family. Of course we were limited to 3 channels back then. LOL Still, my point being the mediam may have changed but human nature hasn't.
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The average time watching TV for a family has actually been decreasing since the 50's.

Again, this thread is nothing but geezers yacking about how great thins were "back in my day..."
 
Watermark said:
The average time watching TV for a family has actually been decreasing since the 50's.

Again, this thread is nothing but geezers yacking about how great thins were "back in my day..."
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Back in the day? We didn't have day when I was a kid. It was all night. The sun never came out until Nixon resigned!!
 
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