Dr. Junco
Photo Courtesy of Dr. Junco’s Webpage
On Wednesday, I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to speak with Dr. Reynol Junco on the phone! We spoke for about an hour, and he had some very interesting things to say…..
Here are some of the highlights of our conversation!
When I asked about his current research, which has to do with social media and technology and its relationship to psychological development….
Junco believes that it is important to define the type of Internet activity when discussing its impact on psychological development. For instance, Junco stated that some research has shown a correlation between high Internet use and emotional loneliness and depression. However, “Internet use” in these studies refers to being online for non-communicative purposes, which does not include Facebook, Skype, Instant Messaging, etc. Junco highlighted research that shows positive relationships between Internet use for communicative purposes and psychological well-being.
Recently, Mark Bauerlein published his book “The Dumbest Generation: How Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future (Or, Don’t Trust Anyone Under 30),” in which he suggests that “too much” technology is having a negative impact on Generation Y. Do you agree that Generation Y is in danger? If so, what kind of danger?
“My take on this is based on my current work. I don’t think that Generation Y is in danger. I think it is very provocative to say that a generation is in danger because of technology use. Clearly, it sells books. However, if this generation is in danger, it is in danger of the media’s unfair stereotypes and generalizations.”
“His [Bauerlein's] critique sounds a lot like the old ‘the generation that comes after mine is not motivated, smart, etc’ thing. I find this interesting because he is from the generation that watched a lot of television and got most of their news from that one source. Yet, he is making these evaluations about a generation that is actually full of citizen journalists. Generation Y actually has to sift through more information and has to think more critically than people used to.”
What do members of Generation Y lose by choosing to “text” instead of “talk” or search the Internet instead of read a book?
“This is an unfair dichotomy here. I work with a lot of students and I have never met any student that will text message to the exclusion of talking or that won’t read a book because they are too preoccupied searching the Internet. In actuality, we are a busy society and I think using technological tools to text when we have things to do actually helps us maintain connections. We are on information overload all of the time, but it is the reality. Members of the Net Generation are trying to work hard and build their careers.”
At this point it was clear that Dr. Rey had a substantially different take on the impact of technology on GenY.
“I learned from my research that the Net Generation (Junco’s term for Generation Y) is actually more engaged in their community than previous generations, and they use technology to connect in natural ways, which strengthens their engagement.”
He highlighted three benefits of technology for Generation Y
1. Students that use social networking are more engaged on college campuses and so they feel like they have a higher connection to their institution and their friends.
2. Establishing connections relates to student persistence and success.
3. In this kind of society where we have a lot of information and a lot of things to do, people from this generation feel more pressure to do well. They work very hard and social media helps us to keep up with people in ways that we wouldn’t be able to do without it.
While Dr. Junco promotes the use of technology amongst Generation Y, he did see Bauerlein’s point about the easy access to information on the Internet and the importance of having guidance.
“Our job as educators is to help students think critically about the information they find online, just like years ago when it was presented via television and newspapers.”
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