How does technology in education affect social growth and learning ability in the area of critical thinking

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Impact of technology in education on social growth and learning ability
Technology is an immensely beneficial tool in our education system, helping children to educate themselves better. Children in the modern era are “growing up in an increasingly digitized world,” with the Digital Natives who “have spent their entire lives surrounded by and using computers, mobile phones, video games, digital music players, play stations” among other tools in this age, both within and outside schools (Chaulk 4). Access to multiple digital information, content and resources have been made possible by the advent of Google, Wikipedia, Facebook, Twitter, and blogs on almost subject. However, the incorporation of technology has “contracted the horizon” of young American minds unto “themselves and the social scene around them” instead of opening them up to science, politics, and civilization (Bauerlein 10). The young educable populace has either underused or misused technological gadgets at their disposal, brazenly disregarding the reading of books. Information is merely retrieved from online sources, and critical thinking has been thrown into the abyss, leading to the many societal issues our country is grappling with. There is the likelihood that we may even miss adequately knowledgeable and trained personnel (experts) in the various professional disciplines. This paper argues that while technology is a highly useful educational tool, if not appropriately and properly used, it can be detrimental to learning and social skills proved through empirical data and the psychoanalysis of students today compared to past generations.

An immense opportunity exists today for the young people to tap into compile knowledge, elevate their taste, cultivate their skill, and mould their expertise. However, the evolution of technology has become disastrous to the American youth (below the age of thirty), leading to a “collective loss of context and history” and neglecting the “enduring ideas and conflicts” (Drutman N.p). These people have developed a “brazen disregard of books and reading” following the underuse or misuse of information technology and the electronic gadgets at their disposal (Bauerlein 4). They have employed technology for an extension and deepening of their behaviours and connecting with their peers instead of reaching out to learn about the globe and its occupants, shifting them from the worlds to pop’s culture (Bauerlein 4). These young people do not utilize the internet to learn more about what they learn in class or verify the information, data, and knowledge they get therein. They instead use that chance to check out YouTube, blogs, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Instagram among many other multiple social media sites. They do not read books which would lead to higher level vocabulary, and they have significantly retreated from traditional reading styles. Bauerlein (47) states that voluntary reading rates dropped from nearly 60 percent to 42.8 percent between 1982 and 2002, especially poetry, drama, and fiction. Despite this greatly availed education and information access more than even their parents had, a 2007 Pew Survey revealed that between 1989 and 2007, more than half of young people aged between 18 and 29 had lower knowledge levels than only 22 percent of those aged between 50 and 64.
For these young people, academic research mostly involves skimming through online sources and gathering multiple information pieces without any critical thought and reflection, devising a model where information is merely retrieved which does not lead to the formation of knowledge (Bauerlein 94). What this eventually leads to is a social dysfunction within the American society, that of anti-intellectualism, which can easily surpass and is potentially worse than even gun violence and racism (Berezow N.p). This ignorance aroused within our populace makes the public so much uninformed that even our government becomes subject to abuse. Rejection of expert knowledge in various fields such as academia, economic, and journalism; and spurning of the establishment has evolved to be our country’s pastime (Berezow N.p). This means that even our political discourse will have to be charted by ignorant elected representatives of our nation, upon the legitimization of “ignorance and misuse when they select scientifically and socially illiterate people for public office” (Steinle N.p). The recent elections revealed the much ignorance that our political leaders feign: Ben Carson saying that the “Big Bang Theory” is just but “a fairy tale” on the campaign trail; President-Elect Donald Trump saying that Muslims ought to be barred from entering America, a land almost entirely made of immigrants, and labelling them terrorists; or Ted Cruz denying that climate change is a real phenomenon (Steinle N.p). The political class has amplified the issue, and no proper and adequate distinction can be made whether someone is wrong is not, where a disagreement is seen as an insult (Nichols 3). There is misinformation across the entire country. A society that is anti-intellectual is highly likely to contain masses of people “motivated by fear, susceptible to tribalism and simplistic explanations, incapable of emotional maturity, and prone to violent solutions” (Niose 2).
Rejecting critical thinking is tantamount to glorifying emotions and irrational behavior, and is the cause for many of the societal problems that we face as a country (Niose 2). Despite being the world’s superpower and economic powerhouse, our nation ranks sixteenth in the quality of life, with higher murder rates and other forms of violent crime more than many other countries in the developed world. Incarceration rates are high, and in an ironic twist, our scientific and literacy rates levels are inexplicably low. While claiming that our country holds conservatism and traditional values, America has the largest teen pregnancy rates in the developed world. Americans have been conditioned to conform and passively accept institutional dominance by corporate interests, through an encouragement of anti-intellectualism, which controls the government and media, therefore, dictating our lives about consumption and materialism (Niose 4). There is a significant cause for worry because of the developed peer activity, as it strengthens the “pull of immaturity” which encourages more of horizontal networking rather than vertical with their teachers, parents, and other elderly people (Drutman N.p).
If these trends continue, then our country is likely to see a surge in lacking adequate expertise in the various fields. Rather than opening up the mind to knowledge of science, politics, progress, technology has rather contracted this horizon to the people’s selves and the social scene. The more focus is made on themselves; the less they remember where they have come from and where they are headed. Technology is meant to make the users “better writers and readers, sharper interpreters and more discerning critics, more knowledgeable citizens and tasteful consumers” (Bauerlein 110). However, it has created an isolation of them from the older and experienced members of the society, leaving them impoverished regarding knowledge and skill. Tom Nichols (2) fears for what he termed as ‘death of expertise’ which is the failure to acknowledge expertise as something that can change our thoughts and how we live. This leads to a rejection of knowledge, rationality, and science which are the foundational principles of Western culture. An expert arguing with a layperson would elicit un-meaningful and unrealistic demands such as showing evidence or proof in as much as they may not have adequate knowledge even merely to decide what would constitute evidence (Nichols 5). Conversations thus become exhausting for the policy experts in a particular field, because they have to begin from the basic tenets to establish the foundational knowledge and a constant negotiation of the engagement and argument rules. And as Bauerlein (139) stated, “For most rising users, screen tie doesn’t graduate them into higher knowledge or skill rates. It superpowers their social impulses, but it blocks intellectual gains.”
The issue at play, that of the adverse impact of technology on education cuts across social, economic, and political boundaries. “Never have opportunities for education, learning, political action, and cultural activity been greater. All the ingredients for making an informed and intelligent citizen are in place” in this era (Bauerlein 10). Intellectuals and technocrats should not be the ideal political leaders ruling over our system because intellectualism has been responsible for unfounded policies that do not make any meaningful political sense. Expertise must be maintained and relied upon because they have an adequate knowledge and skills as compared to the average person. It is vital that all stakeholders in the education of children ensure that there is exposure to transgenerational communication, social interaction, and other modes of learning rather than just browsing the internet, making friends, and passing the time. They must be done to know that there is a need to gather knowledge from multiple fields, and ascertain how to collect relevant knowledge, data, and information. The children require a “reprieve and a retreat” for them to be able to “break the social circuit and think beyond the clique” and school environment to grow into responsible members of the society (Drutman, N.p). Additionally, the developed system should not be geared towards the mere attainment of super academic grades rather than acquiring a sufficient knowledge base which can be employed towards technological advancements. A reading culture should be instilled among the students, of which they should read books intensively and extensively, instead of relying on digital media all the time. The reason and its abandonment thereof must be taken seriously, and other petty issues such as a “racist and gun-crazed culture” be denounced (Niose 4).
In conclusion, the integration of technology into our education system is a remarkable step, as knowledge access and dissemination comes to the click of a button across a wide range of devices, whenever and wherever. Its advent and incorporation into the system have however become disastrous in the pursuit of an informed populace who may have neglected how to endure the whole process and conflicts arising within. This has resulted in many younger people becoming less knowledgeable than the older adults. Social media has proved to be destructive, as students focus more on what they can see online, or watch, or interact; valuable time spent at the expense of reading. Applying technology in classwork has led these young people to simply take the first few search engine results as the final truth without much proper and adequate research, and even without determining the authenticity of the sources applied. The trickle-down effect to our society is immense, in that we are slowly losing our ‘expertise’ and a decreased knowledge base, and social dysfunction in the form of anti-intellectualism. There is a need to rethink our systems, socially, economically, and politically to evolve appropriate measures and mechanisms to ensure that technology in education is used efficiently to develop our future generation.
Works Cited
Bauerlein, Mark. The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future (Or, Don’t Trust Anyone Under 30). 2008..
Berezow, Alex. “Anti-Intellectualism Is Biggest Threat To Modern Society | American Council On Science And Health.” Acsh.Org, 2016, http://acsh.org/news/2016/06/26/anti-intellectualism-is-biggest-threat-to-modern-society.
Chaulk, Chris, and George Haché. “Role of Technology in Education.” (2009).
Drutman, Lee. “‘The Dumbest Generation’ By Mark Bauerlein”. Latimes.Com, 2016, http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-et-book5-2008jul05-story.html.
Nichols, Tom. The Death of Expertise.
Niose, David. Anti-intellectualism Is Killing America: Social dysfunction can be traced to the abandonment of reason. 2015.
Steinle, Nate. “Why America’S Anti-Intellectualism Is Destroying The Country | The University Star.” Star.Txstate.Edu, 2016, https://star.txstate.edu/2016/03/03/why-americas-anti-intellectualism-is-destroying-the-country/..