Are we smarter than a fifth grader?

I once read that the particular way animals play when they are young helps them develop the skills they’ll need to survive and function as adults. (For example, lion cubs like to wrestle and drag things around which helps them develop the skills they’ll need to be effective hunters, and much of human children’s play involves emulating things adults as they develop cognitive, socio-emotive, motor and other necessary skills.) Steven Johnson’s book reminded me again about the importance of play, not just for children, but for us all. As our world becomes more complex, all types of entertainment seem to follow suit. I think Johnson’s book (at least from what I’ve read so far-Part I) shows that he clearly disagrees with George Will’s statement about pop culture being a “more sophisticated delivery of stupidity.”

While I personally feel that reading a book is “better” than watching a movie or playing a video game, media definitely plays an ever-increasingly important role in our society. We’ve all seen how the definition of “literacy” has evolved recently. I’m reminded of the Wesch videos we watched earlier this semester and the idea of how scanning hundreds of web pages for information is essentially a form of “reading” today. (And I’m sure teens who play fast-paced, hi-tech video games are much more skilled at this than I!) I think Johnson’s explanation of how media has evolved and the cognitive effects this has had on us all was very interesting and pretty convincing.