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I enjoyed Clive Thompson’s recent piece on the potential effect technology may have on student literacy. Like many campuses across the country, mine is embroiled in an interesting debate about whether or not today’s technology is making kids… well stupid. Enter stage right The Dumbest Generation. According to the author, Mark Bauerlein, Web 2.0 technology is distracting our kids and drawing them into an intellectual state of mindless confusion and half-witted thinking. But, is Bauerlein’s thesis correct? Is today’s technology– Facebook, blogging, Twitter, etc.– really making kids dumb?

According to Thompson, Andrea Lunsford’s research regarding the impact of today’s technology on student literacy seems to fly directly in the face of the “Dumbest Generation” theory. Participating in the Stanford Study of Writing where she analyzed tens of thousands of writing samples, including student essays, e-mails, blogs, and chat posts, Lunsford concluded that contrary to popular belief, students are becoming better writers thanks to technology.

Lunsford explains,

“I think we’re in the midst of a literacy revolution the likes of which we haven’t seen since Greek civilization.”

According to Lunsford, “… technology isn’t killing our ability to write. It’s reviving it—and pushing our literacy in bold new directions.”

Based on her research, Lunsford determined the following:

1. Today’s students write more than students from any other period in history. Unlike other periods, a substantial portion of this writing (38%) takes place outside of the classroom.
2. Because today’s students are used to writing to an audience, they are much more skilled at employing the writing techniques that enable them to express their ideas more persuasively.

Blogging on Lunsford’s research, Clive Thompson argues

“Of course, good teaching is always going to be crucial, as is the mastering of formal academic prose. But it’s also becoming clear that online media are pushing literacy into cool directions. The brevity of texting and status updating teaches young people to deploy haiku-like concision. At the same time, the proliferation of new forms of online pop-cultural exegesis—from sprawling TV-show recaps to 15,000-word videogame walkthroughs—has given them a chance to write enormously long and complex pieces of prose, often while working collaboratively with others.”

I’m not sure what to think of Lunsford’s findings or Thompson’s analysis. Maybe, contrary to conventional wisdom, kids are, in fact, becoming better writers, and the cause of this exciting turn of events is technology. As much as I’d like to think Lunsford’s findings are accurate, I just find them hard to believe. Sure, kids are probably writing more than ever, but what about the quality? I guess my day-to-day experience in the classroom brings me to a different conclusion.

That being said, I still wonder about the extent to which today’s technology is impacting the way students think, the quality of their thinking. Perhaps today’s technology is in fact inspiring kids to write more, to author their ideas and share their opinions more freely. But, what about its effect on how kids think? What about the negative repercussions of the endless noise of modern technology, the constant jiber-jabber, the digital gossip, and the rapid short-form writing associated with texting? It’s hard to believe that as kids spend more and more time engaged in sophomoric digital discussions and less time reading Hamlet and Lord of the Flies, they are getting smarter.