Are video games making the new generation less intelligent?

The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future (Or, Don’t Trust Anyone Under 30) by Emory University professor Mark Bauerlein examines this possibility, suggesting that digital media, including games, are harming our youth. While it may not actually be making our kids dumber or lowering their IQs, Bauerlein argues that work ethic, civic responsibility and historical knowledge are all on a decline as a result.

Something insidious is happening inside their heads. Young Americans today are no more learned or skillful than their predecessors, no more knowledgeable, fluent, up-to-date, or inquisitive, except in the materials of youth culture.

A full interview with Bauerlein is posted at Canada.com, and while little detail on games is provided specifically, it’s still a provoking read, as yet another medium targets gaming.

Source: Canada.com, GamePolitics

>Are your friends and family getting on your case for your near-obsessive collection of video game magazines (I know you have one. Don’t lie)? Just tell them that one day some of those classics might be worth some serious money. If they don’t believe you, show them this evidence of the first issue of Electronic Games going for $150 at a Classic Gaming Expo auction (pic taken from a photo gallery in Chris Kohler’s article for Wired). I know I’d pay at least that to finish off my collection of early Next Generation issues.