• Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Alex Chediak

Helping young adults thrive at college and beyond

Header Right

  • About
  • Books
    • Beating the College Debt Trap
      • Why Write Beating the College Debt Trap?
      • Table of Contents
      • Endorsements
      • Preface and Introduction
      • Pre-order Freebie: A Parent-Child Discussion Guide
      • Fox News Article
      • Desiring God Article
      • Promo Video
      • Press Kit/Media Info
      • Reviews & Sample Audio
      • Low Res – Front & Back Cover Art
      • High Res – Front & Back Cover Art
    • Thriving at College
      • Table of Contents
      • Endorsements
      • Read the Foreword
      • Read the Preface
      • Read an Excerpt
      • Reviews/Interviews
      • Leader’s Guide (Tyndale)
      • July 2011 CBA Best-Seller (Young Adult)
      • YouthWorker Journal “Best of Best in 2011”
      • NEW!! – Parent-Child Discussion Guide
      • Testimonials From Schools
      • Educational and Church Discounts
      • Buy on Amazon
      • Buy on WTS
      • Purchase Thriving at College in Chinese!
    • Preparing Your Teens for College
      • Why Write Preparing Your Teens for College?
      • Table of Contents
      • Endorsements
      • Foreword
      • Read an Excerpt (PDF)
      • Video
      • Educational and Church Discounts
      • Front and Back Cover Art
      • Interviews/Reviews/Notable Tweets
      • Order on Amazon
    • With One Voice
      • Endorsements
      • Reviews
      • Buy on Amazon
      • Read a Chapter
    • 5 Paths to the Love of Your Life
      • Endorsements
      • Reviews
      • Buy on Amazon
  • Resources
    • Articles
    • Audio/Video
  • Blog
  • Speaking
  • Contact

The Dumbest Generation: The Digital Age and Young Americans

September 3, 2013 by Alex Chediak

Mark Bauerlein, a professor of English at Emory University, is the author of what sounds like an irresistibly fascinating 2009 book: The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future (Or, Don’t Trust Anyone Under 30).  The aim of the book is to describe the intellectual condition of the young American (using empirical evidence).  Peter Lawler (former member of President Bush’s Council on Bioethics, and professor of government at Berry College) says this book: “shows that young people are getting smarter in some ways, but dumber in others. Unfortunately for our future, the ways they’re getting dumber are far more important for their dignity and happiness.”

Lawler highlights some of what Bauerlein says in his chapter on screen time:

1. Virtually all of our students have hours–and often many, many hours–of daily exposure to screens.

2. So they excel at multitasking and interactivity, and they have very strong spatial skills.

3. They also have remarkable visual acuity; they’re ready for rushing images and updated information.

4. BUT these skills don’t transfer well to–they don’t have much to do with–the non-screen portions of their lives.

 5. Their screen experiences, in fact, undermine their taste and capacity for building knowledge and developing their verbal skills.

6. They, for example, hate quiet and being alone. Because they rely so much on screens keeping them connected, they can’t rely on themselves. Because they’re constantly restless or stimulated, they don’t know what it is to enjoy civilized leisure. The best possible punishment for an adolescent today is to make him or her spend an evening alone in his or her room without any screens, devices, or gadgets to divert him or her. It’s amazing the extent to which screens have become multidimensional diversions from what we really know about ourselves.

7. Young people today typically are too agitated and impatient to engage in concerted study. Their imaginations are impoverished when they’re visually unstimulated. So their eros is too. They can’t experience anxiety as a prelude to wonder, and they too rarely become seekers and searchers.

We’re still learning how constant screen time affects brain development.  On the one hand, some of what the rising generation does in front of a screen is no different than what previous generations did with other mediums (read books, conduct research, write reports).  But on the other hand, both high school and college educators are detecting some significant changes, and not for the better.  This book is going on my list to read.

HT: Justin Taylor

0
0
0
0
0

Filed Under: Thriving at College, Culture

Primary Sidebar

DISCOUNT PRICING!

Thriving at College book cover368 pages. Please allow 7-10 days for delivery.
Sales tax will be added for California purchases, as required by law. For orders to Canada, please contact us. (See also CASE DISCOUNTS below.) No PayPal account required to place order. (Debit or Credit card will work.)

$10.99


DISCOUNT PRICING!

Beating the College Debt Trap book cover224 pages. Please allow 7-10 days for delivery.
Sales tax will be added for California purchases, as required by law. For orders to Canada, please contact us. (See also CASE DISCOUNTS below.) No PayPal account required to place order. (Debit or Credit card will work.)

$4.99


DISCOUNT PRICING!

Preparing Your Teens for College book cover 448 pages. Please allow 7-10 days for delivery. Sales tax will be added for California purchases, as required by law. For orders to Canada, please contact us. (See also CASE DISCOUNTS below.) No PayPal account required to place order. (Debit or Credit card will work.)

$9.99


CASE DISCOUNT PRICING!

Thriving at College book cover1 CASE = 28 COPIES
Please allow 7-10 days for delivery.
Sales tax will be added for California purchases, as required by law. No PayPal account required to place order. (Debit or Credit card will work.) For orders to Canada, please contact us.

$269.99


CASE DISCOUNT PRICING!

Beating the College Debt Trap book cover1 CASE = 44 COPIES
Please allow 7-10 days for delivery.
Sales tax will be added for California purchases, as required by law. No PayPal account required to place order. (Debit or Credit card will work.) For orders to Canada, please contact us.

$189.99


Order Thriving at College!

Amazon Book Bomb for Thriving at College"There is no better guide to college."
--Alex and Brett Harris

"Insightful and useful."
--Randy Alcorn

"Written by an ‘insider’—an excellent gift for high school seniors."--Jerry Bridges

 

COMPARE STORES!

Westminster Bookstore
Christian Book Distributors booksamillion.com : books, music, movies & more
Westminster Bookstore booksamillion.com : books, music, movies & more
Westminster Bookstore

Order Preparing Your Teens for College!

Amazon Book Bomb for Thriving at College

"A sharp tool." Tedd Tripp

"Outstanding book on preparing teens for adulthood." Jerry Bridges

"Highly recommended.” Josh McDowell

 

RESOURCES

 

Also by Alex

With One Voice book cover

With One Voice

Read More Endorsements
Reviews
Read a Chapter
Buy on Amazon

 

Praise for With One Voice

This relatively short book packs a powerful bang for the buck, providing much biblical and practical advice for young men and women seeking to glorify God in relationships.

Alex and Brett Harris
Best-selling authors of Do Hard Things

Alex and Marni Chediak offer sound biblical advice and a clear Christian framework for working through the maze of confusions surrounding modern marriage.

R. Albert Mohler, Jr., President
The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

Publishers have been cranking out books with all sorts of directions to help Christians navigate the treacherous waters between the buoys of singleness and marriage, and I know of none that is more clear, concise and helpful than With One Voice.

J. Ligon Duncan, III Ph.D.
Senior Minister, First Presbyterian Church

With One Voice is clearly written and God-centered. Our eighteen year-old daughter just read it and restrained herself from underlining nearly the whole thing!

Dr. Bruce A. Ware
Professor of Christian Theology
The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

Categories

  • Thriving at College
  • With One Voice
  • Culture
  • Personal
  • Theology
  • Practical Ministry

Copyright © 2025 · Genesis Sample on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in