Young generations of today’s world, which has occasionally been referred to as the digital natives, have experienced a remarkable change in their social relationships and learning styles. Accomplishment as far as social life is concerned has been viewed as comprising of more than routine learning. Instead, it consists of sharing and cooperation, using know-how to develop solutions for complex issues, creating solutions, adapting to new circumstances quickly, and profiting from an emerging technology to generate knowledge and solutions. As a result, the skills, knowledge, and abilities earlier anticipated from people have changed. Creating understanding, co-decision making, communication, cooperation, problem-solving, innovation, creative thinking, and critical thinking, which are the necessities of today’s world, have replaced them. Effectiveness in the technology’s use weakens younger generations’ thinking procedures that lead to weakening that eventually promotes invention is a significant contemplation of the paper at hand.
The internet has turned out to be an effective tool for carrying out day-to-day activities. Young generations or the digital natives overuse technology, which negatively affects their critical thinking skills in due course. For instance, cheating and plagiarism have increased in our learning institutions in the United States and across the globe. Easy access to many resources and numerous written work on the internet has made most learners lazy; hindering their skills when it comes to critical thinking (Kuhn, 2019). On the other hand, critical thinking and analysis have declined significantly, thus jeopardizing the thinking abilities of the young generation ultimately. Reading for pleasure was beneficial among the digital natives in the past. Although it engages the imagination in a manner that visual media do not and enhances thinking, reading for pleasure among young generations has declined significantly in the recent past, thus affecting critical thinking in the end. Chen & Chuang (2021) believe that much of the transformation mentioned above is linked to increased technology usage, among other factors.
Need for Instant Gratification
Immediate or instant gratification refers to the enticement, and the consequential propensity, to give up a future benefit to get a more immediate benefit but less rewarding. Involving themselves in a routine of rescheduling fulfillment gives individuals more control over their actions, decisions, and life. Additionally, it helps them not just to value but also appreciate the effort and hard work. If instant gratification cannot be achieved at the expected time, the individual should be truthful about it. Allow the persons who need their assistance to know, “Sorry, but they are going to have to wait.” The most important thing is not to achieve short-term goals, but they are supposed to be fully transparent about what they can offer and what they can do. In other words, young generations should avoid losing patience. Instead, they should wait for the moment to achieve fruitful results, which will not lead them to regrets at the end of the day.
Critical Thinking and Innovation
Critical thinking plays a significant role when it comes to innovation. It is utilized when reasoning is required to achieve the desired results. As a result, most innovation results show incremental advancements created on a base of analytically contemplated resolutions. Creative and critical thinking incorporates people thinking deeply and widely using behaviors, skills, and outlooks such as innovation, imagination, resourcefulness, logic, and reason in their day-to-day activities. Generally, creativity is linked with developing ideas, while critical thinking helps in judging those ideas. It is creative in that it is purposed to produce a new thing: a new magnitude of understanding, an argument, and insight. The computer-assisted invention is supporting organizations when it comes to innovation.
Overreliance on Technology
Technology has turned out to be a significant accessory as far as the day-to-day lives of young generations are concerned, to the extent that they depend on it so much. In other words, digital natives no longer rely on themselves but technology, thus hindering critical thinking at the end of the day. Mao et al. (2021) coins that technology can infrequently break down, point the user in the wrong direction, or arrange for inappropriate info or commendations that make the user transform an earlier truthful resolution or keep an eye on a trail that will result in an error ultimately. It is important to note that technology is not bad for the lives of human beings. On the other hand, too much of it can leave a person strung out or stressed up. Research by Bair & Bair (2017) has revealed that overdependence on gadgets such as computers and smartphones is the fundamental cause of poor work-life balance. Human-computer interaction can refer to how individuals, especially the young generation, use technological items and their plans.
Technology has turned out to be a crutch that diminishes the critical thinking skills of younger generations or what is sometimes called digital natives. This is significantly wearisome because critical thinking is the basis of education and an important life skill for success and survival (Middle, 2019). Young generations are reliant on essential skills to progress, build, create, and communicate. Critical thinking is a complex procedure that combines several strategies, including deciding, judging, and innovating. Essential skills are used in day-to-day activities to make informed decisions, understand the outcomes of our actions, and solve the issues at hand. However, technology has infiltrated the lives of the so-called digital natives, making critical thinking complex to achieve at the end of the day.
Conclusion
Since technology has a significant part in the day-to-day activities of the young generation, their skills have declined as far as analysis and critical thinking are concerned. In contrast, there has been a notable improvement when it comes to visual skills. Digital natives or the young generations have experienced a remarkable change in their social relationships and learning styles. Accomplishment as far as social life is concerned has been viewed as comprising of more than routine learning. Instead, it consists of sharing and cooperation, using know-how to develop solutions for complex issues, creating solutions, adapting to new circumstances quickly, and profiting from an emerging technology to generate knowledge and solutions. Additionally, reading for pleasure was beneficial among the digital natives in the past. Although it engages the imagination in a manner that visual media do not and enhances thinking, reading for pleasure among young generations has declined significantly in the recent past, thus affecting critical thinking ultimately. Consequently, the skills, knowledge, and abilities earlier anticipated from people have changed. Creating understanding, co-decision making, communication, cooperation, problem-solving, innovation, creative thinking, and critical thinking, which are the necessities of today’s world, have replaced them.
References
Bair, R., & Bair, B. T. (2017). Leveraging technology for critical thinking. Training & Development, 44(6), 28-29.
Chen, H. L., & Chuang, Y. C. (2021). The effects of digital storytelling games on high school students critical thinking skills. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 37(1), 265-274.
Kuhn, D. (2019). Critical thinking as discourse. Human Development, 62(3), 146-164.
Mao, W., Cui, Y., Chiu, M. M., & Lei, H. (2021). Effects of Game-Based Learning on Students’ Critical Thinking: A Meta-Analysis. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 07356331211007098.
Middle, S. R. (2019). critical thinking.
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