This generation isn't stupid, we're just different.
 

So, I noticed this odd running theme when conversing with older people about how this generation (By that I mean the 20 somethings and 30 somethings) are less intelligent than their generation is. So I decided to bring up this discussion with my mom where we discussed the differences in generation and it seems that older people have this perception based on some lapses in knowledge about things that really just don't apply to us.

Of course we're not knowledgeable on every topic because sometimes we just don't care. It isn't that we're less intelligent, its that we're more apathetic. And I think that it is largely due to the internet. I mean, we don't necessarily need to know everything about all the social mannerisms, geography, or traditional business models because for the first time in history all societies are one and the same and located at the same place. It used to be that we learned a certain set of manners, but can that same set of manners really be applied now? Probably not when you consider that the social norms in Germany, China, and Sweden are all different and I can now sign on at any hour and talk to people from all 3 places almost as if they were in my living room. It used to be that business had to be done a specific way, but with the internet marketing and commerce are really different, especially in media based businesses.

With that said, does anyone feel this generation is highly misunderstood because we recognize how much different the internet makes society as a whole or even that the internet as a whole is a new sort of society in and of itself?

our generation has a vast expanse of knowledge across a huge range of subjects because of the internet
but the specialization of previous generations is lost forever
...so maybe we are actually at least equal to or greater in intelligence but just in a more general sense.

Your post is all over the place. I don't see how intelligence (or knowledge) has anything to do with manners or business tactics. How does being apathetic justify the lack of knowledge? How does the internet come into the story? If anything, it should increase your knowledge given the fact that never before has there been so much of it so readily available to so many people.

the whole concept is just an old people "oh in the good old days..." thing anyway
of course people are more intelligent we have wider access to information and education
plus we can learn from the mistakes those same old people made

That's not intelligence you're talking about... it's knowledge. ;)

point taken.

First of all, I think all generations tend to be disdainful of their younger counterparts, particularly when the matter of "intelligence" comes up.

I think you're right about the Internet playing a large role, but for a different reason. Because so much information is now readily available, people don't bother to commit it to memory. (Why should one bother learning about the intricies of Brazil's economy when that information can be accessed in five seconds?). As Seltzer pointed out, some people confuse factual knowledge with intelligence.

That said, I can see how "intelligence" (read: creativity, originality, critical thinking) could be found lacking in our generation (well, I'm 19, but that's close enough) simply because of the popularity of electronic games and the woeful state of our educational system (NCLB, anyone?).

The true problem is that it's unfair to call an entire generation less "intelligent." Different generations have different values. How many young people these days find I Love Lucy or Bob Hope to be funny? The way we measure intelligence is subjective (how do you define intelligence?).

Times and people are different nowadays. I don't think it's a question of intelligence. There are "smart" people and dimmer people in every generation, no matter what time you're from. I don't think your generation has anything to do with it. Customs are different, certainly. But then again you can have an old fashion 20 or 30some year old in this generation. It's all based on how people are raised really, they can either go with it or reject it. I agree with WaspStar that intelligence is subjective... but the belief in things being subjective is however more common in this generation. Older people in their 50s/60s generally tend to be more closed minded and possess a "this is the way it is" type of posistion. Though I hate to generalize people based on their age. I do believe everyone is different in their own way and it doesn't matter what their age is. To me it's not your age or your education level, it's what you've gone through and how that's affected your disposistion. A 20 year old that's lived on the streets all their life is probably more street smart than a 50 year old white-collar executive who comes from a yuppie family. See what I'm getting at here?

Yea, one old women told me I didn't "know enough" about politics SIMPLY because I told her I was voting for Obama. She got all snarky and asked why I was voting for him, luckily I was able to name about 7 things off the top my head.
I think a lot has to do with apathy.

She was most likely a republican.

Like, a hardcore "conservative till I die" type.

I'll agree our education system sucks, but is it any worse than 40 years ago? My mom never got a single class on biology and she's one of the smartest people I know. The math we do in our schools now is way ahead of the what the previous generations have done. If you look at other countries I don't think there's anything wrong with their school systems. Can anyone who grew up in the 70's/80's who have kids now or are somehow involved in education say the at schools are worse? I'm not saying that they're good, but are they really worse?

I think the biggest difference between the youngest generations and their parents and grandparents is a sense of entitlement that would have been considered unacceptable when they were young.

Also people of the younger generations have blurred the line between fame and infamy and that is distressing for people who grew up in a much different time.

I think that society is always changing and that's always tougher for the older people to deal with then the younger more adaptable ones. My parents generation had it harder then I did and I had a tougher upbringing then my children did. My grandkids will have an easier life then their parents also (hopefully). It's a natural progression as society becomes more evolved and efficient.

I think that forty years ago, schools taught creative thought more (and that's what's important, not advanced biology or the level of math). Today, all classes have one goal: high test scores. In the 50's, the goal was to prepare people for a trade, to prepare them for life and to think for themselves. (Or am I completely misinformed? Either way, the system sucks right now, and the emphasis on standardization is outweighing any benefits an improved ciriculum may have had).

^ Aye. The heart has gone out of everything. The No Child Left Behind thing pisses me off because it blocks students in with each other when some should clearly be learning at a different place, whether it be higher or lower. There's no one on one nowadays, all blocked and whatnot. This is maybe why our generation is more apathetic - they're stoned on boredom. School constantly ramming bull**** down our throats, we don't have time to expand our minds. The system nowadays does concentrate more on having the highest this and the highest that and they've forgotten the true purpose of education.

My parents don't think so...They remember their education the same as mine is. Mediocre teachers, no intellectual stimulation. So I'm not disputing what you're saying I just want verification. You're certainly right about the current system though.

Go to skool lern shapes and colors and post on music forrums ftw.

I like our education system. My guidance counselors and the schedule setting machines are retarded...but the actual classes are very good.

I had two teachers in high school that were actually good. TWO. Out of thirty.

we may not be the most intelligent but we is the smartest

The intelligence to process the hows and whys of the inner workings there-in. Nothing just is because it is. There is a reason business tactics of old were the best possible business tactics. There was also a reason why their generation was the way it was. I supposed "understanding" might have been a better word to use.
Because those bits of knowledge no longer apply. Why should we know about how they did things if those things just don't matter anymore?
I think it is largely the reason those things no longer apply.

[QUOTE=The Unfan;509171]
What knowledge? Math, English, geography, history? What things?
What things? A little coherence and some better articulation wouldn't hurt.

Aren't you in college now? The freshman professors who teach general studies are always garbage anyways. I had probably one teacher who sucked but it was a art class, and 3 who were very good.

I am 17 years old and live in the UK. There are many, MANY ridiculously stupid individuals that you come across that are my age, but I think it's mainly because the stupid ones are more often than not the most arrogant ones, therefore get noticed more... stupidity is allowed in todays society, whereas back in the older generations youthood yobbish behaviour would not be tolerated, in this day and age the youth seem to get away with it.

However, I think that the 'chav' are a dying breed. I think many of them are growing up now and the streets are a lot less intimidating than they used to be. Well it's either that, or it's because now I'm with a more intimidating bunch of people who would knock the **** out of those little bastards.

People of the younger generation are almost always smarter, and people of the older generation are almost always more wise.

Young people almost always think older people are out to get them, they just want them to avoid the same mistakes they made.

Old people almost always think younger people are stupid, they forget what its like to be ignorant and not set in their ways.

The first step to understanding eachother is to listen to one another, not write them off.

Young people have no idea what it was like to grow up in the 'days of old', and old people have no idea what it is like to grow up in the 'days of new'; think 'Apples and Oranges'.

For the record, the unfan is a punk so it makes sense that you feel like old people berate you... its likely deserved.

I think most people in our generation are nihilists and just don't realize it yet. We live in a world of hyper-simulation where everything we do almost screams its meaninglessness at us. Our parents were probably the last generation to have the comfortable illusion of progress, and now they stare confusedly at us while we beat our heads against the wall.

There is an element of truth to that but I think we're along ways away from being a Nihilistic society. Socially we're more nihilistic and there is an undeniable element of instant gratification that is more prevalent today but it's still a compassionate society on the whole.

^ I don't think we're compassionate... not as we were back in the day. Violence is more publicized today, so people's faith in humanity and trust in strangers are declining - I don't know whether it's good or bad... but bystander-apathy is at it's all time high. There was an old man dying on the sidewalk in NYC, this was in the news recently, and people just stopped and stared, walked over him, and took pictures with their cellphones.

In the 1940's American's watched as an entire race of people we're rounded up and put into internment camps.

In the 50's we segregated, schools, doctors, restaurants etc.

In the 60's we attacked American Solders returning from war.

Still far from perfect but it feels like things are moving in the right direction.

^ Yes, true, granted. Not neglecting those. But I should've been more clear. See I wasn't alive in those days but it didn't seem as if the evening news was televising random acts of violence that illustrated a decline in the caliber of human morale... crackheads killing people for a hit, 16 year olds thinking they have to defend their minority by joining amateur street gangs and doing drivebys, single astray bullets hitting 9 year old girls on their front lawns... There's never been a peaceful time, but this ain't exactly one either. I don't believe things are better. Just different. A different breed of violence and degeneratism.

The same and worse things have always gone one, this is just the first generation to see them televised. I agree it's much different we can choose to see some of the most horrific and gruesome things imaginable. But we still have the choice.

Again history provides plenty of examples. The Gauls, The Visigoths, The Romans, The Egyptians even in early America, scalping by Native Americans and the immigrant Europeans horrible acts of violence.

We are probably a less violent society today then ever (In the USA) It's just the publicizing of everything that has changed, and it's a big change that can feel unsettling in contrast.

^That's what I'm getting at. The publication of the events is changing the generation. Or has changed. Ergo the aforementioned contrast between the young and the old. The times are just different, sose the people.

I've heard it about history and geography a lot. I was referring to more social and political things specifically though I also think we're less likely to care about geography because we have things like mapquest.
Societal things, politics, business, general behavior and what not.

I don't actually feel that its intended as berating actually. I think its a simple misunderstanding but it comes off as a rather asinine way to think about the youth. We're a different generation with different expectations on almost all fronts. To criticize a group of forward moving people based on the grounds that we don't care how you would do something because we've completely redefined how it is done is rather odd.

Can you make that more coherent? That last sentence more specifically.

Sure, I think the idea that we're generally more apathetic to older practices comes from the fact that it isn't logical to follow them anymore. For instance we don't follow old business models because the internet changed how business is done entirely. Therefor when we scoff at more traditional businesses for being out of date they think we look like savages for it. The same is apparently true for politics. The internet has completely bridged many social gaps and has left no reason for social conservatism so in general we're a less conservative generation. Again, we look less (relatively) intelligent politically to them because they have no understanding about what this generation is actually like. By the fact that they completely don't get our generation our generation is misrepresented to look rather dumb to the older generation. From what I gather when they judge us its because we're tossing out the conventions they're used to which looks foolish to them, when in actuality it would be foolish to keep said conventions.

You've heard that you don't need history and geography or that this generation is less knowledgeable in those areas? So instead of looking at an atlas at school, you'll find your desired location on the web, where's the difference? If you're a retard, you still won't know where Croatia is. As for social and political things, are we talking about the general degeneration of manners which is certainly true but also not connected to intelligence, or political awareness, which I'd have to say is probably a lot greater than 30-40 years ago?

Again, that doesn't really translate into intelligence, if it's obvious that these "drastically different" ways of doing business are working. What? Where are you getting this? How can anyone look dumber for having progressive ideas? They may look scornfully at those changed ideals, but I really don't see how they could find you intellectually inferior.

I changed my mind, we're not different, we're just as stupid as everyone before us.

^Just like there really IS equality, we're all just equally stone cold **** nuts?

When I watch movies from the 60's and 70's there are times when there is a 20-30 something person being lectured by an older person about their generation and how different they are, blah blah blah. In 20-30 years we're going to be saying the same crap to our kids... it's a self absorbed cycle and it makes older people feel better to think their generation was the most brilliant. It probably wasn't. I think as a people this generation is more lazy because of the conveniences that surround us... we get married later in life because women have careers to build and it's too damn expensive to live, the idea of the housewife pretty much went out the window. I've gone off track, my apologies... I think the internet being at our fingertips 24/7 has made it so we no longer need to really memorize or retain much, which can be a good thing, why take up space in your brain when you can just look it up? If the older generation is so much more intelligent I want to know why my father still hasn't figured out the VCR.

anyway, I agree... we're just different, not stupid.

The whole argument about the internet giving this generation the liscence to be entirely unmotivated to learn about the surrounding world is a complete cop-out. It's an excuse to fall back on in lieu of admitting that people (yes, people, not just this generation) in general are getting lazy and apathetic. Apathy in my opinion is a form of stupidity. I don't consider anyone who has no curiosity or desire to learn more about the world remotely intelligent.

The internet is an incredibly powerful tool. Knowledge is knowledge, wheather it comes from a book, a tv show or the internet it all ends up the same in the end, as information stored in your brain that makes you a more aware, more informed, and yes, more intelligent person. The key here is that you have to actually internalize that knowledge. The statement that absorbing information has been made irrelevant by the internet and other media is unintelligent. So if you believe that that is a widespread feeling among this generation, then yes, I would say this generation IS less intelligent.

Cool post and I agree, it's like suggesting that because we have cars there is no reason to walk, run or bike anymore. The Internet is a wonderful, but you have to know how to use it and take advantage of that know how to get anything out of it.

When I was coming up obviously no world wide web, I would spend hours in libraries going through biographies and encyclopedias, listening to records now all that stuff is a click away. Maybe I am giving myself too much credit but I feel like the internet makes me want to learn more not less. It's not good enough for me to know that information is out there, I want it in my head.

Well stated jibber.