The last decades have been a time of a very rapid technological progress. Our daily lives differ in many ways from those of our grand-parents or even parents in our age. Fast technological development is definitely one of the main factors responsible for that change and so, I think the impact it had on our society is really vast.
One of its aspects, which seems to be quite easy to notice, might be the deepening of a generation gap between the younger and older members of the society. Fast development of new technologies can be at times hard to keep up with, especially for older generations. At the same time, today’s kids are born and grow up in a world that would be hard even to imagine a few decades ago. This all poses a major impediment for intergenerational understanding, as it is difficult for both sides to put themselves into the other ones’ shoes.
What is more, we often hear about such distinctions as Generation X, Y, Z, which to a great extent were marked by the milestones of technological progress. Not that long ago it was TV whose influence on kids was a serious concern, then came the greater popularity of computers and Internet, which now became almost an “omnipresent being” thanks to the invention of smartphones and other mobile devices. The point is, that such fast development created divisions in our society that we can all experience. I grew up having my own computer and internet access from my early years of education – even so, I can see huge differences between people my age and the ones a few younger, a so called Generation Z, whose great part, for example, were drawn into social media at a much earlier age than I was. For me, generation gaps are a fact and are becoming more and more visible.
Nevertheless, I believe it is inevitable, that the speed of technological progress entails very dynamic changes in the society. What worries us mostly, is that it is a completely free, unpredictable movement, very resistant of any form of control. That is why I think, all we can do is to try accept it, work on its understanding each other and simply deal with the fact that just as our predecessors were not capable of predicting the outlook of future society, so aren’t we.
The term digital native was coined by Marc Prensky in his 2001 article ‘Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants’, but it’s still remains relevant. In this article author relates the contemporaneous decline in American education to educators’ failure to understand the needs of modern students. „Should the Digital Native students learn the old ways, or should their Digital Immigrant educators learn the new?” – Marc Prensky asks.
I belong to the generation of today’s thirty-year-olds – in early 2000, when I finished school, the Internet has not yet enslaved the minds of young people. I think it makes no sense to give an assessment of this phenomenon, whether it is positive or negative, we can only state facts and to adapt ourselves to the new reality. Today we can already say that the mentality of young people has been formed under the influence of virtual reality. Today’s teachers (Digital Immigrants) have to learn to communicate in the language and style of their students and to adapt materials to the language of Digital Natives. App generation needs stronger incentives, combining visual, audio and even tactile effects (“Classical philosophy? Create a game in which the philosophers debate and the learners have to pick out what each would say. The Holocaust? Create a simulation where students role-play the meeting at Wannsee, or one where they can experience the true horror of the camps, as opposed to the films like Schindler’s List. It‟s just dumb (and lazy) of educators – not to mention ineffective – to presume that (despite their traditions) the Digital Immigrant way is the only way to teach, and that the Digital Natives‟ “language” is not as capable as their own of encompassing any and every idea” – M. Prensky).
And to recap my point of view: generation gaps and conflicts are as old as history, today’s teachers face significant challenge – and much will depend on whether they have willingness to find common ground with the new App generation, on that if they are able to change themselves to adapt to new conditions, on their „degree of openness” to new technologies.
A week ago I came back home. It was the first time of a year I was watching TV. When I turned on the TV there was advertising of the internet. The text of it was the following: “You mustn’t be the scientists to find the answer for the difficult question. You mustn’t be the pathfinder to navigate in the unfamiliar terrain. Etc. ” In my opinion peoples that are watching it are cheated. Because they could think that there is no sense to work and to improve yourself to became from nothing to something in this huge world. I am sure that everything that surrounds us is the result of a huge human work. That’s why I just want to tell that Apps are very useful and makes our life easier but it mustn’t stop us to use our brains and to create something new.
There are many different opinions related to this question already in comments. I agree that everything depends on degree of our involvement and degree of our dependence. For sure, digital world gives us a lot of possibilities and make our life more comfortable. We can do pretty much from home thanks to the Internet and Apps. And this is very useful. We can be in touch with our close friends 24 hours and share everything to our 400 friends in Facebook whenever we want. This is very useful too. But the question is “How much comfort do we really need?” I’m confident that we can feel good only if we get out from our comfort zone as much as possible. This also applies to the Apps.
Development of the internet took a really interesting turn while talking about creating „digital self”. People can be anything thet want on the internet, they can basicaly create their lives. If they will give others fake information, they will probably not be able to check if it is real or not. For me it is really interesting how many people choose to create their lives in order to „date” people on the internet. They live in this internet realtionships, refusing to see their other „halves”, because they do not want to reveal that that are not exactly the same looking as on the internet etc. What is more it people tend to gain trust of others on te internet and then use them for their needs. There is a lot of cases of extortion of the money and so on.
I would like to mention privacy as it is always a hot topic in the internet world. We hear all the time about stealing information about people, creating fake accounts by people who stole pictures from others and so on. As most people say that they are concerned about online privacy, they do nothing to protect their personal information. What is more they share their every step of their lives on the social meda, where they are, what they are doing, or even what they are eating at the moment. It is dangerous as it is really easy to, for example, find where somebody lives – location services are always on and people don’t really know about it. It is scary, because if we are talking to someone on messenger, and our location service is on, they can see where exactly we were while we were sending the text.
Idea that we don’t need school, because all of the information that we need is just click away is really interesting, although I think, that it is kind of incorrect thinking. It is true, that it is easier now to find information that we need because of internet and so on, but before most of these information were avialable, people just had to try harder. I think that school is important because of a few factors. First of all people need some kind of guide towalk them through the basic information that we need. It is hard in the beginning to learn everything by yourself and what is more, to choose information that is important. Secondly, if everything is on the internet and we can learn what we want from it, why aren’t we a population when all of us is some kind of megaminds? We often lack of motivation and ideas for what we want to do with our life. And lastly, school not only provides us with knowledge about such topics as math or history, but also it teaches us how to function in the society, how to interact with other people.
The number of available applications in on the increase. Today we can find an app for issues from controlling our diet, through managing our home budget to finding our child that got lost in the crowd. The most spectacular effect of the widespread availability of smartphones and apps can be observed analyzing young generations. While the youngest representatives of the “modern generation” see apps as entertaining games, older ones see them as an excellent source of knowledge. Howard Gardner, the coauthor of the book “The App Generation” during one of his lectures presented an example citing his conversation with one of his student. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8E4u5uVJiI ] The mentioned student questioned the need of education stating that “ we can find answers for all the questions we can possibly want” using our phone. This represents a new approach to education and towards the way our society works today. An approach generated by the technical development of our day-today objects. Indeed, the ability to have a phone organize everything for us, seems to make many conventional technologies unnecessary. But using these apps might turn our attention away from what is happening around us. A thought provoking video shows the negative impact of our “addiction” to our phones. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsH9wGB_Acs] The situations shown in the video are quite extreme, but that is the appropriate way to get people’s attention. Another issue connected to the development of the “App Generation” is the lack of true conversations. A new “public disease” is the need to check notifications our apps keep sending us in order to remind us of our obligations towards them. The urge to check if we are expected to adjust something in the app keeps us from concentrating on what the person sitting in front of us is saying. The time we spend managing our apps could be spent doing housework or spent with our family.
For me this statement about schools in the future is quite scary. Ok, nowadays we can get answer to any question in the internet but like my colleagues said school is not the place where we only learn stuff but it is also a place where we have a chance to meet our friends and learn how to live and how to play our role in the society and know the rules of it. It would be hard to all young people to find answers to that type of questions in smartphones, if in the future smartphones will exist. In my opinion schools are needed and they always will be needed. ps i’m a little bit scared that today 1,5 years old kids know how to handle smartphones or tablets.
The Internet is widespread long enugh that we can observe the new phenomenon – digital natives, people who were born in the digital age. They have difficulty in understanding a long and complex text, prefer short-term learning and expect quick results, they discover all the functions of new devices and they don’t need any instruction, mobile phones are for them very personal objects. And truly speaking I can confirm that most of these features are true. I can observe them on myself.
The technology develops rapidly. For people who were born before 1980 it is very difficult to keep up. Digital natives much better absorb all the technical innovations and are able to quickly learn their service.
It doesn’t come much shock to us nowadays when we notice a child playing football on his new iPad or a couple buying things on the Internet, or even a toddler holding mother’s smart phone twice the size of his palm. It seems we are living with artificial world, where manual is not merely in danger but under a threat of being overmastered by chips, credit cards as also great deal of other digital goods. Not only did high tech solutions modify our lives tremendously through years but we let this state the art technologies dominate half of them. Although app generation may appear like something that is way off in the distant future, but truthfully is much closer than most people would ever dare to imagine.
Talking about online shopping for example, most certainly, a digital currency is a convenience for all the companies and international enterprises on the market. In many ways mobility allows entrepreneurs to contact worldwide investors and close the overseas deal meanwhile using a Skype engine and firm’s bank account without even exiting the conference room. Obviously, entrepreneurs are not the only growing populations of digital currency, for most of the youngsters today; a smart phone is a necessary mean to communicate with the world. Increasing number of outlets such as fast food restaurants, coffee houses or even libraries are now digital with paying for purchase or borrowing a novel. In this day and age it is more likely to step out of the house with no money and still get an acquisition rather than find a person with actual coins in his or her pockets.
In twenty first century when technology is in its prime time, there are still a well percentage of elderly people such as seniors and pensioners who are not acquainted with modern technology as much as adolescents. In numberless times the young are the ones to introduce their grandparents to time-consuming, digital world. So called reverse socialization is taking its place in almost every aspect of todays live. Young educated people not only lend support to seniors living in an ivory tower to maintain their healthy state of mind, but become kind of mentors how to keep up with the Jones of modern, digital life.
Constantly generating tendencies elapsing over the decades has led us to the consumable society we are living in these days, where conversations are replaced with smiley faces and fast clicks of the mouse. A society where people rather shop until they drop and where coins can easily be a remnant of bygone generation.
Everybody notices that the current generation of youth is deeply involved with digital media. Apps are very useful.. but we gradually lose our privacy. Our behaviour online is of great interest to hackers and marketers (of course 🙂 ). However, our smartphones are an even greater treasure trove of behavioral information. Unfortunately, the apps we use are very often the weakest link..
Moreover, smartphone users (I believe most of us) are not conscious of the danger. Once downloaded app onto our device, can access all of our most personal and protected information, and send it onto untrusted and harmful destinations..
Policies we agree with are not only offensive but also constrictive and these apps users were absolutely terrified with what they had heard about the details of each „ageement”. Now we will all think about each „allow”s in our life in a different way, I guess. Each day we make decisions, we feel we’re able to control our life and our privacy. In fact the scope of decisions depending on us in 100% is very limited when it comes to smartphone apps. Moreover, it is completely legitimate from the perspective of law because we actually allowed the application to use our data, read our messages, change contacts and control the calendar. This is the limitation we allow because we are not aware of that. Our private information and data are elements of the bigger worldwide jigsaw, which are being used by numerous organisations keeping this fact secret.
About ‚Privacy and Internet’ – as I commented on FB. We don’t have to lose our privacy. If somebody is so afraid of it, why she/he is still using apps or some websites? It is our duty to be aware of possible dangers. I’d be careful saying that once downloaded app, can access our most personal information. It always depends on the application. What is more, almost no one reads ‚ terms and conditions ‚, before downloading the application. Unfortunately , sometimes people are more stupid and careless, than that applications are dangerous. We don’t have to use all the social networking applications… it’s just our choice . I worked for almost 1,5 years in the mobile app company and I know that application developers must abide by a number of privacy rules. Unfortunately, what do the app stores – it’s a different story …
To be honest, the Internet that offers a lot of information can be helpful and dangerous. For some people who are educated and smart, the Internet can suggest some ideas or help to find the best answer for a question even if when they don’t need it as they are able to answer by themselves. All because they feel just insecure and want to confirm what they know. It is dangerous for people who don’t know anything and they try to be smart only thanks to the Internet because without smartphones and others devices which can be connected with the Internet they are lost and they don’t know the right answer for some question.
The day I thought that no more apps can be developed my friend showed me Periscope discover the world through someone elses eyes https://www.periscope.tv
Thats insane how fast technology moves and goes. Now we can watch online in real time what is going on on the other part of the globe. Thats scary but at the same time fascinating. For sure we are whole new generation of app technology. Most of us cant imagine leaving home without their smartphone, we dont know anymore how to read paper maps and we are „afraid” of being offline. We all know it is not good, our personal contacts are hurt by this, but can we help it ? Is there anything that can change it? Kids are now growing up with ipads and phones, it is whole new industry and money, business is business. I wonder how it will look like in 50 years.
This process went so far that I can’t imagine we can stop it. Just a few years ago I was against each app on my smartphone which demanded some private information. Now I use facebook, a bank app, a sport app, a dictionary app, a navigation app and I just became accustomed to it. I try not to think how many things about me they know.
Apps like everything in the world have advantages and disadvantages. They make our lives easier in many situations but we trade them off for our privacy. I can’t see any good solution…
There are some new apps trends that form the way in which we use them. They generally refer to a larger personalization – for example, spotify have introduced a function designed especially for people who do jogging – it matches the rhythm of the played songs to the pulse during running. Some apps even personalize all the content basing on users’ taste and experience.
Therefore, such apps go a step further – they could be perceived as experts who advise users what they should do, watch, or listen, not asking them about anything but using their previous choices. They could also be ‚personal coaches’, informing about the distance traveled or the calories burned. Therefore, they somehow replace ‚real’ experts or coaches, gaining the status of something more than just an app.
Part of our society surely can be called the apps generation, especially young people who were born in the world of the Internet, smartphones and apps. They can be called digital natives. The technological development went so far that apps are everywhere and they are about everything. Apps are a constant part of education programme at some schools abroad. People are able to use them everywhere thay want and need them as well as any time, some of them even without the internet connection. Apps are very useful but at the same time some of them are doing everything for people without letting them think for a while or start some kind of an activity. I agree with Lanier’s opinion that some websites destroy creativity and innovation and for me so do apps as they provide ready-made solutions. However, apps themselves are the results of creativity and innovative ideas. Similarly to the Internet apps can also provide people with wrong information or answers and give them the simplest solutions. Most of them require to create a digital identity in a form of account, otherwise people are not able to use them and take advantage of the information collected there. Therefore, using apps is also conneted with many threats and as with the Internet it is really hard to determine or check which apps are valuable and do not use personal information about users for their own benefits.
Hmm. I wouldn’t go that far with calling us the App Generation (the gen. of the 80/90s).
First of all, it is a true blessing that Poland and the rest of CEE has had a chance for catching up with the PC/smartphone era – on equal with the rest of the world. It gives us a similar position to rest of the developed world in terms of social-tech-experience. Especially when we talk about the youth. It changed social relations, „helped” in modifing social capital, is being absorbing our time and attention.
But it all happend without shaping a common attitude to process of cybernetization of society. We are not educated in spheres of adaptation of new technologies, how to make a use of it and not making harm to delicate social relations, f.e. between the elders and youngsters.
The mentioned process in unstoppable – world speeds up constantly, we have greater access to information and greater palette of decisions to make everyday, because of the greater offer.
Technology in a natural way contribute to us, simplifies more-or-less these problems of selection, need of information or contact with the others.
Overall, the times of true App Generation in CEE region, when techologies and Apps will be considered as a tool for shaping the societies by states, are not ruling yet. The question „when?” is the case of socio-political paradigms in the region (US, Japan – dozens yrs ahead).
Coming to an end, the great danger is not to shape society with these tools – it is a natural (scary as hell – but it is) way of human evolution. And it will become a weapon in the upcoming days, because it provides new-era links, bounds within societies.
In my opinion we are apps generation because (even now) we use internet in order to give some opinion – and websites/social media. We use many apps on our smartphones – for example we don’t know the title of song we heard on the radio and our apps are looking for the title. It is so easy nowadays! The apps are very useful in our life which is going so fast.
Nowadays, we live in the world, where developing of new technologies is still growing. People use a lot of programmes to make their lives easier. But… is it necessary and does it bring benefits to us?
Howard Gardner who is an author of a book named “The app generation” create these phrase to define young people, who are able to use apps for everything. If we do some research what kind of apps exist, we can easily find for example some, which help us get in shape FitnessBuilder or Good Food Healthy Recipes, reminds us about doing things – MediSafe Meds & Pill Reminder, or just take us from the boredom – games or magazine’s apps. Some of them let us to improve skills, such as playing piano or learning languages.
The author in his book “The app generation” separate people for those, who are “app-enabling” – apps help us learning new things, practicing our creativity and “app-dependent” – without apps we cannot do anything, we forget how to think individually.
To be honest, looking at people around me I only see they are using apps such: Facebook or Messenger, Instagram and Tumblr. They are looking down at their smartphones and forgot about what is happening above and around them – in so cold real world. I don’t have to do research, it is enough when I am watching strangers in the bus. Everybody use smartphones and they are not only youth. Everybody. Some of them using an app to listening music, but the others are texting with Messenger or viewing Facebook or Instagram. I think such apps for some of people brings only goods, because they have a connection with friends and family, who are far away from them. Unfortunately, rest of them can just watch all day what is going on in digital world without any reflections. I see more drawbacks of using apps, such as losing control on our own lives – we rely on technologies, let them replace individual thinking.
To sum up, “the app generation” means that young people are completely involved in digital media. Personally I believe that phrase “the app generation” can be use as an universal name, not only for young people. Apps could be use to improve our creativity, but as I see it is quite infrequent. Most of people just waste time for verfication what our friends on Facebook’s wall are sharing right now or how do get the best filter on Instagram’s photographs.
Just leave it, breathe and think on your own, you can do this without any app – remember about that.
While I believe the internet and related technology does (and will) provide an ever-greater source of information that will relieve the burden of many teachers, it will not replace teachers. Teachers will be less burdened to drill students on fundamental lessons (as comprehensive guides will be located online) and the students will be able to find a breadth of information on the topic, along with the creative freedom to explore whatever they like. However, entrusting students to carry this goal entirely themselves is too risky. Students may create novelized ideas about the subjects they carry, learn from non-credible sources, overlook important points, and misjudge the importance of others. Teachers’ roles will change, but they will still be needed. Perhaps as a sort of „curator” for students, organizing a general topic and providing some basic resources to understand the topic. As for students not having to learn, retrieving information constantly from your smart device is inefficient. Our own memory and learned skills are far more efficient over time, and smart devices should work as a supplement to this (rather than a replacement)
This is rather honest to say that we are App Generation . I Think that we are now partly constructed under the influence of the internet . I once understood that my friends and me are really influenced by that image of ourselves and others in the net. Social networks – a wall between our real life and what we are like in the real life and between our net- image. I don’t agree that everyone is really different between this woo divisions . But more and more people are doing his. In real life they are shy and are nor comfortable when they are communicating with others and on their web page they are they are having more 1000 fries and always in chat ! Two diferent people – two different life. But is it normal to live such a life ? for me – no !
It may just started, but I think that Apple made it way of being the leader on the market, and they will stay on the top, just because of people`s attitude towards the Apple products, because mostly people, who say that they don`t like Apple basicly can`t just afford it, so if everyone could, I think that the Apple company would be the most popular through the mobie technologies, but that`s just mine opinion.
Kazimierz Wóycicki 
The last decades have been a time of a very rapid technological progress. Our daily lives differ in many ways from those of our grand-parents or even parents in our age. Fast technological development is definitely one of the main factors responsible for that change and so, I think the impact it had on our society is really vast.
One of its aspects, which seems to be quite easy to notice, might be the deepening of a generation gap between the younger and older members of the society. Fast development of new technologies can be at times hard to keep up with, especially for older generations. At the same time, today’s kids are born and grow up in a world that would be hard even to imagine a few decades ago. This all poses a major impediment for intergenerational understanding, as it is difficult for both sides to put themselves into the other ones’ shoes.
What is more, we often hear about such distinctions as Generation X, Y, Z, which to a great extent were marked by the milestones of technological progress. Not that long ago it was TV whose influence on kids was a serious concern, then came the greater popularity of computers and Internet, which now became almost an “omnipresent being” thanks to the invention of smartphones and other mobile devices. The point is, that such fast development created divisions in our society that we can all experience. I grew up having my own computer and internet access from my early years of education – even so, I can see huge differences between people my age and the ones a few younger, a so called Generation Z, whose great part, for example, were drawn into social media at a much earlier age than I was. For me, generation gaps are a fact and are becoming more and more visible.
Nevertheless, I believe it is inevitable, that the speed of technological progress entails very dynamic changes in the society. What worries us mostly, is that it is a completely free, unpredictable movement, very resistant of any form of control. That is why I think, all we can do is to try accept it, work on its understanding each other and simply deal with the fact that just as our predecessors were not capable of predicting the outlook of future society, so aren’t we.
The term digital native was coined by Marc Prensky in his 2001 article ‘Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants’, but it’s still remains relevant. In this article author relates the contemporaneous decline in American education to educators’ failure to understand the needs of modern students. „Should the Digital Native students learn the old ways, or should their Digital Immigrant educators learn the new?” – Marc Prensky asks.
I belong to the generation of today’s thirty-year-olds – in early 2000, when I finished school, the Internet has not yet enslaved the minds of young people. I think it makes no sense to give an assessment of this phenomenon, whether it is positive or negative, we can only state facts and to adapt ourselves to the new reality. Today we can already say that the mentality of young people has been formed under the influence of virtual reality. Today’s teachers (Digital Immigrants) have to learn to communicate in the language and style of their students and to adapt materials to the language of Digital Natives. App generation needs stronger incentives, combining visual, audio and even tactile effects (“Classical philosophy? Create a game in which the philosophers debate and the learners have to pick out what each would say. The Holocaust? Create a simulation where students role-play the meeting at Wannsee, or one where they can experience the true horror of the camps, as opposed to the films like Schindler’s List. It‟s just dumb (and lazy) of educators – not to mention ineffective – to presume that (despite their traditions) the Digital Immigrant way is the only way to teach, and that the Digital Natives‟ “language” is not as capable as their own of encompassing any and every idea” – M. Prensky).
And to recap my point of view: generation gaps and conflicts are as old as history, today’s teachers face significant challenge – and much will depend on whether they have willingness to find common ground with the new App generation, on that if they are able to change themselves to adapt to new conditions, on their „degree of openness” to new technologies.
A week ago I came back home. It was the first time of a year I was watching TV. When I turned on the TV there was advertising of the internet. The text of it was the following: “You mustn’t be the scientists to find the answer for the difficult question. You mustn’t be the pathfinder to navigate in the unfamiliar terrain. Etc. ” In my opinion peoples that are watching it are cheated. Because they could think that there is no sense to work and to improve yourself to became from nothing to something in this huge world. I am sure that everything that surrounds us is the result of a huge human work. That’s why I just want to tell that Apps are very useful and makes our life easier but it mustn’t stop us to use our brains and to create something new.
There are many different opinions related to this question already in comments. I agree that everything depends on degree of our involvement and degree of our dependence. For sure, digital world gives us a lot of possibilities and make our life more comfortable. We can do pretty much from home thanks to the Internet and Apps. And this is very useful. We can be in touch with our close friends 24 hours and share everything to our 400 friends in Facebook whenever we want. This is very useful too. But the question is “How much comfort do we really need?” I’m confident that we can feel good only if we get out from our comfort zone as much as possible. This also applies to the Apps.
Development of the internet took a really interesting turn while talking about creating „digital self”. People can be anything thet want on the internet, they can basicaly create their lives. If they will give others fake information, they will probably not be able to check if it is real or not. For me it is really interesting how many people choose to create their lives in order to „date” people on the internet. They live in this internet realtionships, refusing to see their other „halves”, because they do not want to reveal that that are not exactly the same looking as on the internet etc. What is more it people tend to gain trust of others on te internet and then use them for their needs. There is a lot of cases of extortion of the money and so on.
I would like to mention privacy as it is always a hot topic in the internet world. We hear all the time about stealing information about people, creating fake accounts by people who stole pictures from others and so on. As most people say that they are concerned about online privacy, they do nothing to protect their personal information. What is more they share their every step of their lives on the social meda, where they are, what they are doing, or even what they are eating at the moment. It is dangerous as it is really easy to, for example, find where somebody lives – location services are always on and people don’t really know about it. It is scary, because if we are talking to someone on messenger, and our location service is on, they can see where exactly we were while we were sending the text.
Idea that we don’t need school, because all of the information that we need is just click away is really interesting, although I think, that it is kind of incorrect thinking. It is true, that it is easier now to find information that we need because of internet and so on, but before most of these information were avialable, people just had to try harder. I think that school is important because of a few factors. First of all people need some kind of guide towalk them through the basic information that we need. It is hard in the beginning to learn everything by yourself and what is more, to choose information that is important. Secondly, if everything is on the internet and we can learn what we want from it, why aren’t we a population when all of us is some kind of megaminds? We often lack of motivation and ideas for what we want to do with our life. And lastly, school not only provides us with knowledge about such topics as math or history, but also it teaches us how to function in the society, how to interact with other people.
The number of available applications in on the increase. Today we can find an app for issues from controlling our diet, through managing our home budget to finding our child that got lost in the crowd. The most spectacular effect of the widespread availability of smartphones and apps can be observed analyzing young generations. While the youngest representatives of the “modern generation” see apps as entertaining games, older ones see them as an excellent source of knowledge. Howard Gardner, the coauthor of the book “The App Generation” during one of his lectures presented an example citing his conversation with one of his student. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8E4u5uVJiI ] The mentioned student questioned the need of education stating that “ we can find answers for all the questions we can possibly want” using our phone. This represents a new approach to education and towards the way our society works today. An approach generated by the technical development of our day-today objects. Indeed, the ability to have a phone organize everything for us, seems to make many conventional technologies unnecessary. But using these apps might turn our attention away from what is happening around us. A thought provoking video shows the negative impact of our “addiction” to our phones. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsH9wGB_Acs] The situations shown in the video are quite extreme, but that is the appropriate way to get people’s attention. Another issue connected to the development of the “App Generation” is the lack of true conversations. A new “public disease” is the need to check notifications our apps keep sending us in order to remind us of our obligations towards them. The urge to check if we are expected to adjust something in the app keeps us from concentrating on what the person sitting in front of us is saying. The time we spend managing our apps could be spent doing housework or spent with our family.
For me this statement about schools in the future is quite scary. Ok, nowadays we can get answer to any question in the internet but like my colleagues said school is not the place where we only learn stuff but it is also a place where we have a chance to meet our friends and learn how to live and how to play our role in the society and know the rules of it. It would be hard to all young people to find answers to that type of questions in smartphones, if in the future smartphones will exist. In my opinion schools are needed and they always will be needed. ps i’m a little bit scared that today 1,5 years old kids know how to handle smartphones or tablets.
The Internet is widespread long enugh that we can observe the new phenomenon – digital natives, people who were born in the digital age. They have difficulty in understanding a long and complex text, prefer short-term learning and expect quick results, they discover all the functions of new devices and they don’t need any instruction, mobile phones are for them very personal objects. And truly speaking I can confirm that most of these features are true. I can observe them on myself.
The technology develops rapidly. For people who were born before 1980 it is very difficult to keep up. Digital natives much better absorb all the technical innovations and are able to quickly learn their service.
It doesn’t come much shock to us nowadays when we notice a child playing football on his new iPad or a couple buying things on the Internet, or even a toddler holding mother’s smart phone twice the size of his palm. It seems we are living with artificial world, where manual is not merely in danger but under a threat of being overmastered by chips, credit cards as also great deal of other digital goods. Not only did high tech solutions modify our lives tremendously through years but we let this state the art technologies dominate half of them. Although app generation may appear like something that is way off in the distant future, but truthfully is much closer than most people would ever dare to imagine.
Talking about online shopping for example, most certainly, a digital currency is a convenience for all the companies and international enterprises on the market. In many ways mobility allows entrepreneurs to contact worldwide investors and close the overseas deal meanwhile using a Skype engine and firm’s bank account without even exiting the conference room. Obviously, entrepreneurs are not the only growing populations of digital currency, for most of the youngsters today; a smart phone is a necessary mean to communicate with the world. Increasing number of outlets such as fast food restaurants, coffee houses or even libraries are now digital with paying for purchase or borrowing a novel. In this day and age it is more likely to step out of the house with no money and still get an acquisition rather than find a person with actual coins in his or her pockets.
In twenty first century when technology is in its prime time, there are still a well percentage of elderly people such as seniors and pensioners who are not acquainted with modern technology as much as adolescents. In numberless times the young are the ones to introduce their grandparents to time-consuming, digital world. So called reverse socialization is taking its place in almost every aspect of todays live. Young educated people not only lend support to seniors living in an ivory tower to maintain their healthy state of mind, but become kind of mentors how to keep up with the Jones of modern, digital life.
Constantly generating tendencies elapsing over the decades has led us to the consumable society we are living in these days, where conversations are replaced with smiley faces and fast clicks of the mouse. A society where people rather shop until they drop and where coins can easily be a remnant of bygone generation.
Everybody notices that the current generation of youth is deeply involved with digital media. Apps are very useful.. but we gradually lose our privacy. Our behaviour online is of great interest to hackers and marketers (of course 🙂 ). However, our smartphones are an even greater treasure trove of behavioral information. Unfortunately, the apps we use are very often the weakest link..
Moreover, smartphone users (I believe most of us) are not conscious of the danger. Once downloaded app onto our device, can access all of our most personal and protected information, and send it onto untrusted and harmful destinations..
When it comes to data and applications privacy I highly recommend watching this movie:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcjtEKNP05c
Policies we agree with are not only offensive but also constrictive and these apps users were absolutely terrified with what they had heard about the details of each „ageement”. Now we will all think about each „allow”s in our life in a different way, I guess. Each day we make decisions, we feel we’re able to control our life and our privacy. In fact the scope of decisions depending on us in 100% is very limited when it comes to smartphone apps. Moreover, it is completely legitimate from the perspective of law because we actually allowed the application to use our data, read our messages, change contacts and control the calendar. This is the limitation we allow because we are not aware of that. Our private information and data are elements of the bigger worldwide jigsaw, which are being used by numerous organisations keeping this fact secret.
About ‚Privacy and Internet’ – as I commented on FB. We don’t have to lose our privacy. If somebody is so afraid of it, why she/he is still using apps or some websites? It is our duty to be aware of possible dangers. I’d be careful saying that once downloaded app, can access our most personal information. It always depends on the application. What is more, almost no one reads ‚ terms and conditions ‚, before downloading the application. Unfortunately , sometimes people are more stupid and careless, than that applications are dangerous. We don’t have to use all the social networking applications… it’s just our choice . I worked for almost 1,5 years in the mobile app company and I know that application developers must abide by a number of privacy rules. Unfortunately, what do the app stores – it’s a different story …
To be honest, the Internet that offers a lot of information can be helpful and dangerous. For some people who are educated and smart, the Internet can suggest some ideas or help to find the best answer for a question even if when they don’t need it as they are able to answer by themselves. All because they feel just insecure and want to confirm what they know. It is dangerous for people who don’t know anything and they try to be smart only thanks to the Internet because without smartphones and others devices which can be connected with the Internet they are lost and they don’t know the right answer for some question.
The day I thought that no more apps can be developed my friend showed me Periscope discover the world through someone elses eyes https://www.periscope.tv
Thats insane how fast technology moves and goes. Now we can watch online in real time what is going on on the other part of the globe. Thats scary but at the same time fascinating. For sure we are whole new generation of app technology. Most of us cant imagine leaving home without their smartphone, we dont know anymore how to read paper maps and we are „afraid” of being offline. We all know it is not good, our personal contacts are hurt by this, but can we help it ? Is there anything that can change it? Kids are now growing up with ipads and phones, it is whole new industry and money, business is business. I wonder how it will look like in 50 years.
This process went so far that I can’t imagine we can stop it. Just a few years ago I was against each app on my smartphone which demanded some private information. Now I use facebook, a bank app, a sport app, a dictionary app, a navigation app and I just became accustomed to it. I try not to think how many things about me they know.
Apps like everything in the world have advantages and disadvantages. They make our lives easier in many situations but we trade them off for our privacy. I can’t see any good solution…
There are some new apps trends that form the way in which we use them. They generally refer to a larger personalization – for example, spotify have introduced a function designed especially for people who do jogging – it matches the rhythm of the played songs to the pulse during running. Some apps even personalize all the content basing on users’ taste and experience.
Therefore, such apps go a step further – they could be perceived as experts who advise users what they should do, watch, or listen, not asking them about anything but using their previous choices. They could also be ‚personal coaches’, informing about the distance traveled or the calories burned. Therefore, they somehow replace ‚real’ experts or coaches, gaining the status of something more than just an app.
Part of our society surely can be called the apps generation, especially young people who were born in the world of the Internet, smartphones and apps. They can be called digital natives. The technological development went so far that apps are everywhere and they are about everything. Apps are a constant part of education programme at some schools abroad. People are able to use them everywhere thay want and need them as well as any time, some of them even without the internet connection. Apps are very useful but at the same time some of them are doing everything for people without letting them think for a while or start some kind of an activity. I agree with Lanier’s opinion that some websites destroy creativity and innovation and for me so do apps as they provide ready-made solutions. However, apps themselves are the results of creativity and innovative ideas. Similarly to the Internet apps can also provide people with wrong information or answers and give them the simplest solutions. Most of them require to create a digital identity in a form of account, otherwise people are not able to use them and take advantage of the information collected there. Therefore, using apps is also conneted with many threats and as with the Internet it is really hard to determine or check which apps are valuable and do not use personal information about users for their own benefits.
Hmm. I wouldn’t go that far with calling us the App Generation (the gen. of the 80/90s).
First of all, it is a true blessing that Poland and the rest of CEE has had a chance for catching up with the PC/smartphone era – on equal with the rest of the world. It gives us a similar position to rest of the developed world in terms of social-tech-experience. Especially when we talk about the youth. It changed social relations, „helped” in modifing social capital, is being absorbing our time and attention.
But it all happend without shaping a common attitude to process of cybernetization of society. We are not educated in spheres of adaptation of new technologies, how to make a use of it and not making harm to delicate social relations, f.e. between the elders and youngsters.
The mentioned process in unstoppable – world speeds up constantly, we have greater access to information and greater palette of decisions to make everyday, because of the greater offer.
Technology in a natural way contribute to us, simplifies more-or-less these problems of selection, need of information or contact with the others.
Overall, the times of true App Generation in CEE region, when techologies and Apps will be considered as a tool for shaping the societies by states, are not ruling yet. The question „when?” is the case of socio-political paradigms in the region (US, Japan – dozens yrs ahead).
Coming to an end, the great danger is not to shape society with these tools – it is a natural (scary as hell – but it is) way of human evolution. And it will become a weapon in the upcoming days, because it provides new-era links, bounds within societies.
In my opinion we are apps generation because (even now) we use internet in order to give some opinion – and websites/social media. We use many apps on our smartphones – for example we don’t know the title of song we heard on the radio and our apps are looking for the title. It is so easy nowadays! The apps are very useful in our life which is going so fast.
Nowadays, we live in the world, where developing of new technologies is still growing. People use a lot of programmes to make their lives easier. But… is it necessary and does it bring benefits to us?
Howard Gardner who is an author of a book named “The app generation” create these phrase to define young people, who are able to use apps for everything. If we do some research what kind of apps exist, we can easily find for example some, which help us get in shape FitnessBuilder or Good Food Healthy Recipes, reminds us about doing things – MediSafe Meds & Pill Reminder, or just take us from the boredom – games or magazine’s apps. Some of them let us to improve skills, such as playing piano or learning languages.
The author in his book “The app generation” separate people for those, who are “app-enabling” – apps help us learning new things, practicing our creativity and “app-dependent” – without apps we cannot do anything, we forget how to think individually.
To be honest, looking at people around me I only see they are using apps such: Facebook or Messenger, Instagram and Tumblr. They are looking down at their smartphones and forgot about what is happening above and around them – in so cold real world. I don’t have to do research, it is enough when I am watching strangers in the bus. Everybody use smartphones and they are not only youth. Everybody. Some of them using an app to listening music, but the others are texting with Messenger or viewing Facebook or Instagram. I think such apps for some of people brings only goods, because they have a connection with friends and family, who are far away from them. Unfortunately, rest of them can just watch all day what is going on in digital world without any reflections. I see more drawbacks of using apps, such as losing control on our own lives – we rely on technologies, let them replace individual thinking.
To sum up, “the app generation” means that young people are completely involved in digital media. Personally I believe that phrase “the app generation” can be use as an universal name, not only for young people. Apps could be use to improve our creativity, but as I see it is quite infrequent. Most of people just waste time for verfication what our friends on Facebook’s wall are sharing right now or how do get the best filter on Instagram’s photographs.
Just leave it, breathe and think on your own, you can do this without any app – remember about that.
While I believe the internet and related technology does (and will) provide an ever-greater source of information that will relieve the burden of many teachers, it will not replace teachers. Teachers will be less burdened to drill students on fundamental lessons (as comprehensive guides will be located online) and the students will be able to find a breadth of information on the topic, along with the creative freedom to explore whatever they like. However, entrusting students to carry this goal entirely themselves is too risky. Students may create novelized ideas about the subjects they carry, learn from non-credible sources, overlook important points, and misjudge the importance of others. Teachers’ roles will change, but they will still be needed. Perhaps as a sort of „curator” for students, organizing a general topic and providing some basic resources to understand the topic. As for students not having to learn, retrieving information constantly from your smart device is inefficient. Our own memory and learned skills are far more efficient over time, and smart devices should work as a supplement to this (rather than a replacement)
This is rather honest to say that we are App Generation . I Think that we are now partly constructed under the influence of the internet . I once understood that my friends and me are really influenced by that image of ourselves and others in the net. Social networks – a wall between our real life and what we are like in the real life and between our net- image. I don’t agree that everyone is really different between this woo divisions . But more and more people are doing his. In real life they are shy and are nor comfortable when they are communicating with others and on their web page they are they are having more 1000 fries and always in chat ! Two diferent people – two different life. But is it normal to live such a life ? for me – no !
It may just started, but I think that Apple made it way of being the leader on the market, and they will stay on the top, just because of people`s attitude towards the Apple products, because mostly people, who say that they don`t like Apple basicly can`t just afford it, so if everyone could, I think that the Apple company would be the most popular through the mobie technologies, but that`s just mine opinion.