Are People Better Informed in the Information Society?

There are tons of people who feel that as we move toward a more technologically oriented lifestyle, as participants in the new information society, are inevitably moving toward a better quality of life. It almost seems logical that better technology is the result of moving from more primitive forms of communicating to more sophisticated, faster, and efficient means. New technologies challenge us to think of new practices, nee values, and new structures.

Linda Jackson et al. found that youth who use the Internet more had higher scores on standardized tests f reading achievement and higher GPAs. This work supports the optimism surrounding the Internet as a tool to level the educational playing field. To contrast, Mark Bauerlein found that the youth spend much of their leisure time in front of computer and television screens, but the information age has failed to produce a well-infomred, thoughtful public.

Jackson and her colleagues demonstrate the potential of the Internet to enhance educational outcomes for low-income children. The Information highway and the Digital Age stimulated hopes for generation able to multitask, plumb and depths of digital information, and create a sophisticated synthesis. Bauerlein states that despite the numbers or sources and technologies available, people are not better educated or more informed today. If he is correct, there is much evidence to support the idea that as time goes by the public's knowledge of basic civics and politics becomes even weaker.

I personally think that people are better informed in the Information society. To use one example, you retrieve news and information so much more efficiently and faster from the Internet, rather than newspapers. I feel as if there is a lag time with newspapers because they have to be written, edited, and then published. We can achieve more, but have become more dependent on it.