Please read Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation? by Jean Twenge for The Atlantic.
In all Readings—and as a general rule—remember that your primary task is to perform a close reading of the material. Consider the author, the venue, the sources, and the words employed. How does all of the above conspire to reinforce or undermine the credibility of the rhetoric? (More on “the rhetorical situation.” And more still.)
This article made the rounds of my professorial neighborhood last year and caused some uproar. Some excerpts with links to optional further reading:
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Whatever you think of the topic at hand (smartphones and teens), Jean Twenge is not the person to shed light on it. She has made a career of cherrypicking bits of survey data and making shocking generational claims–often in opposite directions from each other.
In 2006–one year before the launch of the iPhone–she published a book titled “Generation Me: Why Today’s Young Americans Are More Confident, Assertive, Entitled–and More Miserable Than Ever Before“
Then, in 2016, she published a paper, comparing 2014 to 1972 data, titled “More Happiness for Young People and Less for Mature Adults“
Then, in 2017, she published “Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?”
Reader beware.
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Couldn’t agree more with Mark!
Psychology Today has an article by Sarah Rose Cavanagh explaining in detail what is wrong with Twenge’s assertions.
Jutta
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You are encouraged to make reference to any of the above in your Writing response.