Exposition-+Yong+Xiang

Qn 2: New Technologies have created a situation rather unknown in human history wherein the young seem more knowledgeable than the old. To what extent do you agree with this statement? I agree that the advent of new technologies in today's society have inevitably created a new chapter in human history wherein the youths are perceived as more knowledgeable than the old to a large extent. These new technologies, include handheld electronic gadgets such laptops, MP3, iPods and other consumer electronics such as television and air-conditioners, have now become a part and parcel in our everyday lives. The greater appeal of the new technology towards youths have resulted its rise in popularity, more and more youths are also becoming acquainted the latest technology, causing the knowledge rift between the young and the old to widen. As the new technologies tend to attract more of the younger generation than the old, youths gain greater exposure to these new technologies in their everyday life, cultivating greater acceptance and become more open to the new technologies available in the market. Naturally, mastering the use such new technology by the youths will be much faster than the old. Recent statistics from a social networking site, Facebook INC, have shown that the number users which fall within the age range of 13 to 25 years old is twenty-six times more than the users who are above 55 years old. This statistic have not only proven that new technologies tend to attract more youths than old, it has also suggested that there is greater acceptance of new technologies among the youths than the old. With the new technologies present in our lives today, it not only allowed us to communicate with our friends more conveniently, it can also allow us to gain faster and more reliable access to the latest news online instantly. On the other hand, with limited exposure to new technologies in today’s society, the aged will tend to rely on daily newspapers and magazines to seek information. Such news available to them may not appear to be the latest news and usually contain inherent biases towards the reporting of events. Hence, new technology which has greater appeal towards youths, undeniably paved way for latest news to be accessed almost instantly, it has also created a generation of youths with more knowledge than the older generation. [This paragraph is written with a sleepy brain] As new technology is expanding at such rapid pace in the world we live today, the sky is never the limit. Youths expect higher aspirations and are more receptive towards the constant changes of the new technology. This constant adaptation towards the latest technology have enabled many youths to stand out in front of the older generation because they have acquired necessary skills which are important for survival in this increasingly complex world. In the future, when technological advancement and computerization becomes part of our surrounding environment, it is necessary that these skills are acquired from scratch and from young. The older generation, on the other end of the spectrum, who are less receptive towards the constant changes, may be cooped in their own world and live without advancement if they do not intend pick up any the vital skills of technology for the future. Hence, when youths are more adaptable, equipping necessary skills and knowledge have become much simpler, tolerance in the increasingly digital world would be safer. New technologies also created a more literate generation of youths by inculcating latest available technologies into education. Through the exploration of the expanding depths in the new technologies, youths are able to learn new information with a more comprehensive coverage and greater interactivity with just a few clicks of the mouse. Online websites such as Wetpaint, Sliderocket, Wikispaces, Youtube on the Internet has recently became an important tool for education. Taking YouTube as an example, lecturers can post their lecture videos online as an alternative for students who are absent. Apart from that, lesson notes can be uploaded to Wikispaces so that it would be available to almost all students instantly. Pictures and animations available easily on the Internet will not only captivate a student’s learning interest, understand a concept is never before as easy as ABC. The older generation picks up their information through less interactive mediums such as textbooks and hardcopy notes which may not appeal to many of them at all. Textbooks are often used as a reference to a particular subject topic but do not aid people to understand a certain concept clearly. Furthermore, the lack of interactivity in textbooks has also caused the older generation to be less interested in learning. With new technology available to us in the current world, it has broaden our thinking scope and stimulate our thinking processes, in turn, making us more knowledgeable than the old who were once around the same age as us. [Conclusion]

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