Ah, brilliant. You got down most of the things I found wrong with it. (I should take more time to actually write down intelligent and detailed things like this in my journal. Never wrong to contribute to the content of our pretty little dumbification network.)
Concerning GTA4 specifically: I haven't played it myself, but I've seen and heard bits while my boyfriend was playing, and that game has some of the best satire I've ever heard, as well as very well-written and rounded characters. I'm sure the target audience is fairly intelligent, never mind the writers. And I think I've said it before, but I'm sure the Pokemon games helped me learn English. And games these days have ever more text.
I also really don't understand the claim in the "They don't store the information" part that 40-year-olds somehow gain more information form the internet than teenagers who, in general, know much more about how to find it.
There's another point, I bet the internet-savvy generation has considerable skill in judging the usefulness and relevance of sources - anyone can put information on here, true or false, the filtering happens at your end. I know that my mother is often surprised by how fast I can find a useful website on google (and sometimes prefers me to do her googling for her), or the right link in a block of text. Not to belittle her brainpower, she's very intelligent, but I think we Kids These Days are more used to being given a large amount of information quickly and picking out the parts we need. Tell me that's not a useful skill to have.
Also, I've just noticed something in the last point:
"Do you remember how stupid you were when you were a teen-ager? Or all that you didn't know -- and thought you did? And the skills you gained by holding back on foolish comments?"
Is he trying to say that because the internet allows us all to express our views to the scrutiny of any who stumble upon them, we'll turn out dumb? Yes, complete silence while the elders are talking, that's the way.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2008-05-12 12:58 pm (UTC)Concerning GTA4 specifically: I haven't played it myself, but I've seen and heard bits while my boyfriend was playing, and that game has some of the best satire I've ever heard, as well as very well-written and rounded characters. I'm sure the target audience is fairly intelligent, never mind the writers.
And I think I've said it before, but I'm sure the Pokemon games helped me learn English. And games these days have ever more text.
I also really don't understand the claim in the "They don't store the information" part that 40-year-olds somehow gain more information form the internet than teenagers who, in general, know much more about how to find it.
There's another point, I bet the internet-savvy generation has considerable skill in judging the usefulness and relevance of sources - anyone can put information on here, true or false, the filtering happens at your end. I know that my mother is often surprised by how fast I can find a useful website on google (and sometimes prefers me to do her googling for her), or the right link in a block of text. Not to belittle her brainpower, she's very intelligent, but I think we Kids These Days are more used to being given a large amount of information quickly and picking out the parts we need. Tell me that's not a useful skill to have.
Also, I've just noticed something in the last point:
"Do you remember how stupid you were when you were a teen-ager? Or all that you didn't know -- and thought you did? And the skills you gained by holding back on foolish comments?"
Is he trying to say that because the internet allows us all to express our views to the scrutiny of any who stumble upon them, we'll turn out dumb? Yes, complete silence while the elders are talking, that's the way.