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The App Generation: How Today's Youth Navigate Identity, Intimacy, And Imagination In A Digital World (2013)

by Howard Gardner(Favorite Author)

3.36 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

0300196210 (ISBN13: 9780300196214)

languge

English

genre

Nonfiction

publisher

Yale University Press

review 1: It is difficult to imagine what our great-grandparents thought where their children became obsessed with those new fangled radio and phonograph machines, nor what our own grandparents thought of our devotion to the television. Did they dwell on the positive aspects of the devices, machines that allowed into small, sheltered lives all the riches of the world, though at second hand? Did they frown when thinking of the possibility that these devices would cause would cause civilizations to come apart, that relationships would start to be shattered, that people would no longer venture out into the world when it would be so easy to bring the world to the individual? And so it is with “The App Generation”, where older people are looking at a new technology and the impact i... moret has on people. Are phone applications bad or good, adding to the culture or draining away the very need for culture? First, the “App Generation” label would make it seem as if only a set within the entire population is under the microscope. There is no “App Generation” to speak of as the use of apps for a method of working through a day is so virulent in society that it defines the traditional view of “Generation.” There are those who engage in the use of apps, and those who do not. While it is nice that Gardner and Davis have taken it upon themselves to both attempt to define this generation and coordinate the effects the use of apps have on them, the reality is that apps, smart-phones and computers in all their manifestations are a commonality in first and second world nations, and their use is rising in all nations to a point that now it is more of a divide between those who are using them, and those who will be using them in the future. The impact of all this proliferation of technology has yet to be discerned but as the authors point out, it will either enhance our lives, or it won’t. The technology, in al it’s many forms, will either enhance social networking and bring divergent peoples together, or it will lead to a greater separation among individuals. It will unite or divide. In short, it will change us all in some manner. This was a thought provoking Goodreads win.
review 2: A really good coverage of the impact of Apps on the generations. I am not entirely comfortable with the assertion that apps can be a trap, that can be applied to a lot of things. Still it gives both the advantages and disadvantages, though it does seem to make some moral judgements even if disguised by it's academic base. The author labels Apps as "enablers" or "disempowers" and goes on to blame older generations for how youngers view and relate to apps. That as with most new technologies is crap, you can't teach something that is ahead of your learning curve. We are starting to see an App driven world but we are a long way away from really seeing the impacts negative and positive. Yes there are trends but then so is the onesie. Even where I agree there have been negatives, his last example demonstrated that left to their own devices people can see that and develop their own opinions and strategies. Even people as young as six. One example of writing skills being impacted (negative) but image based creative being enhanced (positive) is to me neither negative or positive. It's change. We may need to face the fact that over time writing may slowly pass away as a general skill to be replaced by something else. Sure that's sad, but it's not bad. The real issue for me is the gaps between the generations and their increasing disconnect as each tends to their own "app" to communicate and to complete tasks. We can't all learn all apps. I think those impacts would be more interesting to see and I was hoping for more there but alas. less

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