Dumbest Generation: How Did The Generation Grow So Dimwitted?

The dumbest generation from children in perplexion to adults in peril: In 2008, Mark Bauerlein was an outspoken individual in a remote area. While professionals were gushing about the “Digital Natives” and their bright future in technology, he dubbed them the “Dumbest Generation.”

Their present is exceptionally bleak, and their future isn’t looking well. People in their twenties who spent their formative years glued to screens suffer from feelings of isolation, aimlessness, and domestic and professional dissatisfaction. 

A large number of them are depressed and contemplating suicide. An essential update on the Millennials, 

The Dumbest Generation Grows Up, explains their not-so-quiet desperation and, more importantly, the danger their lack of knowledge presents to the older generation.

 The Millennial generation desperately seeks something to satisfy their gaps in education, religious affiliation, life experience, and cultural understanding. 

Their guides have let them down. To make matters worse, they have sought solace in politics as if it might mend their broken hearts.

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Who Are The Dumbest Generation and Why?

At every generational transition, the elders will gripe about the younger crop and long for the “good ol’ days,” as the saying goes. 

• The new styles and trends of youth culture often need to be understood by adults who think they know better. Then, when these trends become the norm, the youth who were once considered foolish criticize their children’s immaturity, and the cycle repeats.
• Hey, we’re the ones who will be in charge in the future, and we totally deserve it!
• Given that we are the first generation to have grown up with computers and the Internet, we also have the unique advantage of being able to tap into the immense store of human knowledge that resources like Google, online newspapers, searchable libraries, and Wikipedia have to offer.
•  We are also the most educated generation in history. More and more young Americans attend college every year, and getting a bachelor’s degree is becoming a realistic goal for many if not an explicit expectation.
•  We’re also better off because our parents, the last great intellectual and scientific generation members, are extraordinarily kind and accommodating.
• No previous generation has ever been as informed, tech-savvy, or, dare I say it, clever as this one. They have an unprecedented command of technology, above-average levels of education, and incredibly admirable networks of money and support. 

Who is more qualified to usher in a renaissance of wisdom and invention?

So goes the general consensus. Many people who call themselves “techies” and “trendspotters” fill the airwaves and newspaper columns with their enthusiastic observations on today’s youth with predictions that will make you gasp.

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Really contrary to what some hopeful futurists and technophiles may have you believe, the data strongly indicates that those raised in the late 80s and early 90s are one of the most dimwitted generations currently living.

 Stupid to the point where we might show that we can’t even maintain civilization, much less create it from scratch.

Mark Bauerlein’s 2009 exposé of the under-30 group, The Dumbest Generation, argued this point. The title was not subtle. Bauerlein drew the unflattering conclusion from a mountain of data, including surveys, academic investigations, and government studies, 

• that our generation really reads less
• , learns less, 
• understands less,
•  and generally cares less about anything beyond ourselves or our few shallow and self-indulgent hobbies, despite all our lofty ambitions and fancy gadgets.

Suppose we boil it down to its essentials. In that case, Bauerlein’s research shows that most Americans under 30 need more education and experience to do anything beyond satisfying their immediate needs for entertainment and social interaction. 

Similarly, educational practices have changed in bizarre and lax ways over the past few decades, with little to no improvement in student knowledge.

• Professors and teachers are either genuinely interested in becoming friends with us or, at the very least, are frightened of our friend-parents, who will defend Jenny at all costs and attack any teacher who dares to suggest she isn’t great.
•  Many high schools no longer tolerate failing or passing a class depending on one’s ability, which was commonplace when our parents were in school; it seems like a strange relic of a bygone era.
•  Instead of delving into history, literature, or philosophy, college students write dissertations about their favorite video games and TV shows and argue ironically that plagiarism should be acceptable. 

Employers know that passing through post-secondary really reveals less than ever before about a graduate’s skills, competence, or professionalism; the cliché that many of our degrees are now “worthless” outside of university halls isn’t simply a reflection that a six-year major in Oprah Studies was not the best time investment.

Even Christianity has not been spared by our generation. Even among those who claim to be religious, many young adults do not know or care about the denomination from which their family originates. 

• They may struggle to explain the meaning of words like “covet” or even to distinguish between the vastly different doctrinal positions held by Protestants and Catholics. 
• Rock concerts and iPhone apps have replaced meaningful engagement with the intellectual traditions and history of faith since religion is now seen as little more than an excuse to spend time with friends and indulge in hobbies.
• You may think of countless remarkable young adults who defy all of these clichés, so it’s clear that these are just brief overviews. 

Internet page counts, TV ratings, book sales, and mall layouts all show that the majority prefers the superficial and showy over the mature and heavy, which is problematic in a market-governed society where minority tastes matter.

 Therefore, the question arises as to whether the few of us who perceive an issue with our peer culture will be sufficiently driven to resist or if we, too, will eventually be satisfied to just conform.

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How Did This Whole Generation Grow So Dimwitted?

It was one of those serendipitous encounters that happens to people who aimlessly surf the web all day long;

I stumbled into a TikTok that a fellow writer had recommended. A young American woman whose voice has that somewhat nasal quality typical of Los Angeles rambles on and on about “manifestation” in the video. Several of these videos have garnered millions of views and likes., which makes you roll your eyes.

“Manifestation” refers to bringing positive outcomes into existence, in case you’re unfamiliar with the term. You “manifest” your desires from the universe, such as “financial abundance” or a vacation to the South of France.

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Additionally, I was informed by the BBC that a random TikToker named Megan Boni went viral for a 20-second song she wrote and sang in an idiotic voice as a joke about wanting a wealthy finance guy with a trust fund. 

David Guetta remixed the music, and an accurate record company offered her a severe record deal even though she had no musical talent and had never written a proper song. “I was like: ‘What makes you think I can write a song?'” she said, explaining why she declined the deal. 

• Despite the criticism, she is determined to “ride the wave of the song,” performing in Vegas alongside Guetta and expressing her desire to appear on Saturday Night Live.
• The “review” of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour in Edinburgh makes it to the top of the BBC news page today as if that weren’t bad enough. “Review” is capitalized because it appears the BBC must promote Taylor Swift through daily stories filled with bland praise as if it were a contractual requirement. 
• To review, one could think about the city’s expulsion of homeless people to accommodate Swift’s flood of fans or the complete lack of substance in her song lyrics. The fact that one of the tracks is “believed to be about actor Jake Gyllenhaal” is apparently all that matters to them. 
• The whole thing seems more like it came from a Taylor Swift fan forum than a national news agency that claims to be “impartial” and whose mission includes preventing “undue prominence.”
• Earlier this year, the BBC published a story praising Kim Petras, describing her EP “Slut Pop Miami” as “an outrageous, sex-positive, club-ready tribute to the joys of carnal pleasure.
• ” In her song “Butt Slutt,” Petra sings, “Do it, do it, lube it, lube it / Gotta put your back into it / Smack it, smack it, ass-attack it / Push your balls up on my racket.
• ” Other songs by Petra include “Get fucked,” “Cockblocker,” and “Butt Luv.” Does it need to be mentioned that this generation, desensitized by pornography and TikTok, has this ridiculously gratuitous and hopelessly superficial perspective on sex? No. It embodies “sexual liberation” and is “upbeat and escapist.” It is truthful.
• As a whole, it seems like a strange joke or a culture of mockery. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. The BBC, a news organization that is only partially respected, took the significance of these items very seriously. 
• This TikToker talks about “manifesting” like there’s no tomorrow, utterly oblivious that her description is incredibly self-centered, completely lacking in depth, and even more insultingly ignorant than that. 

She encourages her millions of followers to “manifest” from the cosmos and acquire anything they desire, even while people are being bombed in the process.

Maybe this is simply my skewed view of culture due to the Internet. Perhaps I was simply watching the BBC on the erroneous day. Maybe not, though. Recent data shows that children aged 11–14 spend an average of 9 hours per day in front of screens. 

• This significant amount of screen time can profoundly affect their development and well-being. we know that test scores are declining worldwide, and this generation is progressively becoming less intelligent. 
• As if the impact of this peculiar online environment weren’t awful enough, the dramatic increase in youth mental health difficulties since 2012 further proves that it is more than simply a cultural phenomenon. No matter what we do, the youth are not benefiting from the increasing rates of anxiety, sadness, and eating disorders.
• Simply put, we fail to express or acknowledge how peculiar something is. It is deeply troubling that homeless people are being forced out of a city to lavish praise on an artist whose songs only contain sexually explicit content and whose stage name is “Butt slut / Butt slut / Doggy, doggy, rough, rough.
• ” It is even more shocking that record companies are so focused on profit at the expense of music and culture that they would sign a TikTok without any original songs written to a record deal simply because she became viral.

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Why Doesn’t It Work, Though? 

We spend so much time online that we’ve forgotten how to bring the same level of perspective that we usually have in the real world. We have forgotten that culture is the fabric of our reality, a meaningscape within which we find ourselves and that its influence manifests in the world around us. 

The BBC can air these stories alongside “mental health awareness” pieces without even flinching at their own hypocritical role in contributing to the epidemic of mental health issues among young people.

However, I may be yelling into thin air, like an irate man ranting at a cloud. Maybe not, though. At this point, I don’t see anything that can stop us from plunging culture’s wagon off the cliff we’ve driven it towards. 

Still, hey, we’re too busy worrying about ourselves to care. Those who believe this culture is rescuing us instead of destroying us suffer from the same kind of blindness as Trump supporters, who will never hear you point out the absurdity of Trump. 

Still, where do you draw the line? My next step is to conjure a cup of tea and then step outside into the real world.

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