3. Preface and
introduction
Talk about Mark Bauerlein's
childhood
He didn't like his parents
Technology limits a teenager's ability
to expand his/her horizons
4. Chapter1-
Knowledge Deficits
"Teens are encased in immediate
realities"
Studies have been made to teens and
young adults over the past 10 years
Schools are narrowing down the
curriculum, excluding music and
other arts
5. The current generation has advantages:
they spend more time at school
There are more libraries and museums available
They have more money to spend
Teens don't use these advantages
Never were "goods so plentiful, schooling so
accessible, diversion so easy and liberties so
copious"
This is a paradox in the book
6. Chapter 2- The New
Bibliophobes
Kids do not read books
Teens and kids know how to read
but choose not to
Kids will read only if obliged to or
to 'bond with peers' e.g. Harry Potter
7. Studies show that the more kids read
the better they will score
From 1982 to 2000 reading rates in
younger genetics fell drastically
Younger generations have no shame
in saying that they don't read books
"The more you don't read, the more
you can't read"
8. Chapter 3- Screen
Time
Study shows that the total leisure time spent
by kids using media is equivalent to a full
time job
On average an American teen spends 295
minutes a day using some sort of media
Multi-tasking
Teens only want to learn what they have to
and how they want to
9. When faced with books teens reject
them
"The web grows and the young adult
mind stalls"
10. Chapter 4- Online
Learning and Non-Learning
ICT (information and
communications technology)
Tests were conducted
Most test takers scored above 60%
Dexterity and intelligence a both
areas improved by digital media
11. English vocabulary skills are significantly
increased for non-native English speakers
Vocabulary is limited for native English
speakers
Screen reading differs greatly from book
reading
The more web pages look like book pages,
the less people visit the website
The web is a consumer habitat, not an
educational one
12. Chapter 5- The
Betrayal of the Mentors
Left alone, teens have no way to progress
"Twixters"
In 2005 the twixters are between 22 and 30
years old
Psychological assessments show a rising in
narcissism
Young Americans need an inspirational figure
13. Chapter 6- No More
Culture Warriors
The old generations gave up on the
'dumbest generation'
Young pele don't read enough books or
care to do so
A cultural descent as started
The intellectual future of the United
States looks dim
14. Social and ethical
issues
Globalisation and cultural diversity
People and machines
15. Conclusion
The book makes one look at the
technological world in a different
way
Made me look at the negative
impacts of technology instead of
focusing on the positives
