Is the under-thirty generation really the dumbest generation? This question is debated among numerous of sources such as Mark Bauerlein’s The Dumbest Generation and Nicholas Carr’s “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” The criteria for intelligence is considerably large, but sources’ arguments mostly align by the idea of common knowledge, necessary life skills, and literacy as the main criteria. To an extent, the claim of the under-thirty generation being the dumbest is true with the inadequacy in some life skills and common knowledge, but it is wrong due to the general rise in literacy and intelligence quotient among the under-thirty generation. According to the older generations, the under-thirty generation lacks to the necessary common knowledge …show more content…
The use of new and advanced smartphones had allowed for the increase in the use of more short cuts and slang such as “lol” which means “laugh out loud” and “tbh” which means “to be honest.” In the image called “Shelved,” a wall of books look in horror and anger as a young man uses a laptop for work instead of the wall of knowledge behind him (Source H). The size of the shelf of books compared to the man in his seat conveys the message that the man’s knowledge is so miniscule with the use of his laptop compared to immense knowledge contained in the shelf of books. This image voices one of the reasons as to why the claim of the under-thirty generation being the dumbest is made. Despite this image mocking the under-thirty generation, they had an increase in intelligence quotient (IQ), and “have been rising since the 1930s” in the United States (Source B). This rise in IQ counters the claim that the under-thirty generation is the dumbest generation because their sense of critical thinking has grown more than the older generations. To further support the intelligence of the under-thirty generation, a Stanford university research had found that “students were remarkably adept at… tone and technique to get their point across”(Source G). The improvement in literacy and writing skill has shown itself in this research which demonstrates that the under-thirty generation is not the dumbest generation, rather they may be the smartest with all their new technology and improved education