The Digital Space and the Lack of a Race

In his article, “Generational Myth”, Siva Vaidhyanathan argues the, “Once we assume that all young people love certain forms of interaction…young people rush to adapt to those changes we assumed all along that they wanted”. Vaidhyanathan’s assertion that assumptions are often made about young people that cause them to conform to a “one-size fits all” persona is , while somewhat accurate, in the sense that the atmosphere of many educational institutions in modern times do behold a strong trend to becoming incredibly technologically advanced, mainly an inaccurate generalization due to the fact that it advocates that “young people rush to adapt”, clustering all the individuals in a certain age range as technological adapters, when such is not the case. His use of hasty generalization, zealous over-defense to his supporting side, and the preference of many young people in these cases, all contribute to the inaccuracy of Vaidhyanathan’s claim.
“Generational Myth” is a deep interpretation of how technological advancements affect certain viewpoints and cause stereotypes to erupt, and give a hiding place for racism and class differences to seem virtually inept, as all races and classes “unite” under the World Wide Web. The author disputes the ideas of generations, from those that were around during the hippie movement to those that exist now, in the “Digital Native” (page one, paragraph three) phase. While he makes many valid claims, Vaidhyanathan himself inadvertently generalizes by grouping “young people” into one specific category when discussing them, and trying to infer that they all have different personas and cannot be classified as Digital Natives. By stating that “young people rush to adapt” simply because they assume that all older generations expect them to and long for them to be tech-savvy, Vaidhyanathan has assumed that all “young people” are willing to rush off and follow the rules of all older generations simply because of the expectations of others. There are many people who fit into the category that he describes who would be very unwilling to change, no matter who expects them to. While discussing that the white middle-to-upper classes ( page three, paragraph four) are the people who have access to technological advancements and that generalizing everyone into one group because of this aspect is wrong, Vaidhyanathan overlooks the fact that high school dropouts, people who choose not to continue their education after high school, and students in lower level schools and low class urban neighborhoods that do not have computers or where the majority of people cannot afford them, are often not forced to adapt nor are they pressured or willing to. Many students and young people who do “rush to adapt”, on the other hand, due to school assignments or outside pressure, do nothing more than learn the basics of Microsoft Word, internet search engines and social sites, and in some cases, PowerPoint (page two, paragraph six). While there are few that may decide to go past this phase and take into consideration web-building and computer design, they are a minority who are generally interested in the topic to begin with, regardless of outside influence.
By vastly defending this younger cohort, stating that they are all individuals and are not all technologically-obsessed simply because they’ve grown up with computers in their lives, Vaidhyanathan goes on forcibly overestimating their plight, making it seem as though this age group is so stressed about needing to be technologically advanced to satisfy the supposed requirements brought upon them by older people that it is affecting their daily lives. In reality, the majority of “Digital Natives” do not think twice about what they do or how they act. Unless individuals are either interested in technology or need to use a new form of it for some sort of presentation or school/work assignment, their daily use is usually consistent of mindlessly sending a text message or checking their Facebook messages at most. Hardly any of these people rush to understand how to hack Facebook, how to fix html and create digital designs for Myspace, or how to program a flaw by changing the source code on Linux, regardless of whether they are expected to or not. If they are assigned to do this, the person teaching it to them is usually of a different time and age group, yet understands the topic much more in a depth fashion than his or her students do. Then, of course, when the assignment and/or test is over, many of those students go on to forget what they learned anyway.
I believe that there is not a “one size fits all system” existent in modern times, as many educational institutions only require basic knowledge of simple programs, ones that are much less complicated than the use of typewriters was long ago. Special classes that teach detailed computer understanding are usually electives, available for students who either show interest and choose to learn more, or for those who are lost in their paths of interest, to try to give them a new route to try. A hybrid system is definitely the best ideal for education at the moment, as the world is rapidly moving to adapt to the technological takeover, something that saves valuable time, money, and resources, yet there are still computer illiterate people and places out there in which case traditional forms of information and production work best. As technology becomes available all over, traditional sources and methods are still important and useful. If electricity suddenly became unavailable, many people would be unable to comfortably function, regardless of age. Knowledge of basic methods is always necessary and important as, if not a first priority, a second source or backup way of doing things.
Vaidhyanathan’s essay, “Generational Myth”, does a very good job of investigating the truth behind the idea and structure generations and proving its argument. It’s assertion that “young people rush to adapt” to technology because of the standards that have been set up for them disputes itself and is questionable because of the fact that many young people, especially those without access to computers, do not rush to adapt. The existing hybrid of methods in the educational system and in most social cases is likely the best path to follow, giving a taste of the best of both worlds.