Computer Writing and Research Lab | University of Texas at Austin

Google Generation Not Great At Googling

Submitted by Ljones on February 4, 2008 - 10:52am

My students this semester, who as a group seem very bright, still have trouble sending attachments as .docs. This article probably reaffirms what many of us in the CWRL already suspected--that these kids are not necessarily more computer savvy than our generation.

Google Generation Not So Hot At Googling, After All

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An interesting read.

Submitted by jonathanlamb on February 5, 2008 - 11:58am.

An interesting read, but, as you said, not necessarily a surprising one. The article notes that "young people prefer interactive systems to passive ones and that they are generally competent with technology." What interests me is that first part about "interactive systems."

What, I wonder, is a "passive system"? The author here seems to consider such dreary activities as reading a book passive systems. Is it worth considering--and I say this as an English graduate student--that reading is no less interactive than Google searching or (to select a much older form of interaction) a spoken conversation? And isn't the "technology" with which students are apparently competent another variation on book reading, or newspaper reading, or manuscript reading, or papyrus reading, etc.? Don't they have similar rules based on their peculiar structures? Or is there something essentially different about this kind of technology?

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Based on recent teaching

Submitted by SarahJett on February 6, 2008 - 9:51am.

Based on recent teaching experiences, I don't think college freshmen have fundamentally changed since the time I was one myself. Yes, they're more familiar with certain websites, but the problem with anything interactive is that you must know what to contribute to make it work for you. Even with google, as the article suggests, you get much better results if you know what search terms to use. I like your point about the interactive nature of reading, Jon. I remember an article I read in an Academic Decathlon packet years ago that compared the "paradigm shift" from the cathedral to the book to the shift from the book to the computer. I suspect that at first people used to using the internet would have a hard time knowing how to interact with a cathedral and vice versa. But ultimately, I don't think it takes very long to learn the basics of a new technology. It's much harder to learn about the other end of the interaction, that is, to know what you must bring to the table as the user, to figure out what you want to accomplish. Early in college, I think something many people begin to figure out is what they hope to learn, accomplish, or discover how to say themselves.

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