Are people from the 80's smarter then other generations?

[Wikiy]

But that article also suggests a possible end of that effect.

It suggests. In 2 countries. Sure, I'm not not saying the effect will continue forever, I just don't think that for example a 20 year old person in the 90s was dumber than a 20 year old in the 80s. Or a 20 year old in the 2000s than a 20 year old in the 90s.

One might also argue that testing a 14 year old is rather useless since educational standards might've changed, i.e., decisions might've been brought about having kids start school later or perhaps their education was a bit lightened up in the years up to 14 or so and hardened after 14 or so. These are of course huge assumptions but such findings are entirely possible, and especially when you have the data pool of the entire world, meaning about 200 countries.

This is why I personally find the PISA scores to be a rather bad standard for comparing education in various countries. For example, in some countries you start school at 7 and in some at 5. This automatically means the former countries' results will be lower assuming the educational quality is the same. I'm seriously baffled as to why they don't test adults who're done with their education and judge the education of a given country based on that.

[Tomatketchup]

First, I was not gloating. People don't know me but called me boring, so I was simply explaining the type of person I was and the range of interests I have. And even you would have to admit that my interests are very broad and probably span a majority percentage of people with average interests. I would have to conclude that if you don't like ANY of the interests I have, there would be a higher than average chance that yes... they are a boring person. And the original poster wasn't even talking about one person... he was talking about an ENTIRE GENERATION that found me completely boring. That's absurd.

On a side note, I'm sorry you think I'm an egotistical douche bag. :-)

I still think that while you have a wide span of interests, it doesn't mean everyone is boring. A guy that enjoys lots of classical music for example, would he be boring despite being an otherwise funny guy at the pub? Yes, boring interests to most people, but if he thinks it's fun...

Still, I understand now what you were trying to say, and I'm sorry I was a douchebag about it.

[3DTyrant]

How can one be 40 years old, yet be born in the 80s?

[poser765]

First, I was not gloating. People don't know me but called me boring, so I was simply explaining the type of person I was and the range of interests I have. And even you would have to admit that my interests are very broad and probably span a majority percentage of people with average interests. I would have to conclude that if you don't like ANY of the interests I have, there would be a higher than average chance that yes... they are a boring person. And the original poster wasn't even talking about one person... he was talking about an ENTIRE GENERATION that found me completely boring. That's absurd.

On a side note, I'm sorry you think I'm an egotistical douche bag. :-)

My, friend you may in fact be the most amazing person to ever walk the planet. The problem, as I mentioned several pages ago is not how exciting or boring you are.

God's sake man, you are 30 not 15 anymore. Why on earth would you expect a teen to relate to you or want to be your friend? I sure don't relate or want to be friends with them.

[Kryos]

Why do all machines and equipment from 80's/ 90's have a strange colour to them? Kind of like a mucky cream...makes everything look dirty :S

Beige was a nice neutral color which blended in effectively with the predominantly pastel colour schemes which dominated corporate office spaces in the early 1980s. Marks don't show up on Beige quite as quickly or as obviously as they do on pure white or jet black. The use of Beige helped to maintain the clean, efficient image offices were supposed to project.

At the time, the color Beige also happened to be the main color of office technology - fax machines, photocopiers, telex machines, they all came in that same off-white shade. At that times a computer was for work and had to look professional.


Another widely suggested reason for the choice of the color beige was more psychologically driven. When PC's first started to rise in popularity and quantity, they were strange new technology, which frankly, scared and intimidated a lot of people who were less technologically comfortable/capable. Beige, being a soft, gentle color which is easy on the eyes, may well have been an attempt to take away some of the fear the electronics inside the boxes instilled in these people. I find this easy to believe, and, like the default colour of technology mentioned above, it logically progresses forward into a time when more and more people were becoming more comfortable with technology. As it became less intimidating and more commonplace, there was less reason to try to hide it away in nondescript Beige boxes. With this reasoning in mind, the recent rapid transition to stark black and shining silver computers also makes reasonably good sense.

Another reason for the early predominance of Beige was cost. Beige may have been the color that the pellets used in plastic mass-production came in originally. Keeping the same colour allowed for cost savings as there was no dye cost, and no real costs associated with quality-control having to ensure the same shade of plastic was being produced over and over again.


Edit: Today computers are nearly all black with blue leds or Apple white. Maybe in the future computers are all red and blue... who knows.

[Proxeneta]

I've talked to these 40 year olders and they all seem pretty smart or cool. Why does this time period rock so much? I want to know.

Well, maybe they know the difference between using then and than.

[Kryos]

http://moraless.com/img/2012/12/101.jpg

Just check career aspiration to know what's wrong...

[Istaril]

Lastly, I don't have rose colored glasses.

Yes, yes you do.

Your glasses are so rose tinted they're opaque.

[aztr0]

It has nothing to do with the time period. The older you get the smarter / wiser you get (at least in most cases). If you really wanted to compare intelligence between time periods look at how smart someone from the 80's was when they were 15 and then look at how smart someone from the 90's was when they were 15. (You probably wouldn't see much of a difference)

Uhh... yeah... there is a significant difference. You got kids these days that didn't know Titanic was a real event. Lincoln was indeed assassinated and not something they had just put in the movie. There are some really dumb kids as the education standard is being lowered and the priority for kids is anything but education first. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2fHQ9eULzk

Obviously, with video editing, the video could make it look worse than it is. But, when I was at that age, I knew the answers to the questions relative to the time period (obviously, as Joe Biden wasn't the VP at the time, etc).

[Wildtree]

Ok, let me try to put some thoughts into this.....
Like some pointed out, can't be 40+ when you're born in the 80s... You have to be born between 1964 (49 yrs old) - 1973 (40 yrs old) ..
Now we are getting somewhere.
Since we all are influenced by our surroundings, we need to look a little of the political, social, and cultural situation of said times. What heavily influenced the parents of the people who were born within said time period, and what did in part already influence the children, while they grew up...
What has a high impact? Music for example. Pretty much every human being likes music. Let's check real quick if there's a quality difference to find. For the generation of 40 yr olds, I grab the middle of the decade now, 1969.
The most successful Singles of 1969 are:
1. The Beatles - Get Back
2. Rolling Stones - Honky Tonk Woman
3. Zagar & Eavens - In the Year 2525
4. The Archies - Sugar Sugar
5. Elvis Presley - Suspicious Mind
Arguably, that's a lot of quality in the charts. Now, let's look at 2012....

1. LMFAO - Sexy And I Know It
2. Rhianna - We Found Love
3. Adele - Set Fire To The Rain
4. Kelly Clarkson - Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You)
5. Katy Perry - Part Of Me
Arguably, there's little quality, but a lot of garbage in the charts.
By plain quality comparison of measurable skill regarding virtuosity of the artists, there is a huge decline noticeable between 1969 and 2012.
It's like looking at a restaurant menu from a steakhouse (1969) and a fast food menu from McD (2012). Bear in m ind, I am not comparing by likes. What a person likes to listen is taste. Taste cannot be argued at all. That's a personal preference. What can be measured however is skill. One can study music, one can study composing, instruments, and even singing. There is a system in place to evaluate skill. By that I go.
Which means, that it seems like people are easier pleased with less quality today.

What happened on social level? keep in mind, those people had parents too. What influenced them?
Well, the by far biggest social impact comes from the Hippie Movement. This started as early as 1960 already. Moved along, to the so called "Summer of Love in 1967, and the "Revolution" year 1968. Revolution as in, that during 1967/68 the ideologies of the Hippie Community made it's way into the mainstream. That's right.. If you only ever heard of Hippies, and or seen them only in movies, mags etc. They became a part of the mainstream society. Even fashion was all of a sudden the trend to dress like the hippies did. It waned off in the 70s, triggered by a concert tragedy. The Altamont Speedway Free Concert, which was meant to be a second Woodstock (That was also during the time period we looking at) turned into a social disaster, with lots of violence, leaving 1 homicide,3 accidental deaths, cars stolen, property damage, and the list goes on.. The concert became most famous, for the homicide. The Hells Angels have been the security crew for the power generators. And they took it to the extreme.
Killing one fan during the Rolling Stones gig in front of the stage.
That drove a shock wave through the society, and pretty much ended the era of the Hippies, which stood for the absolute opposite - love and peace.

Politically.. Well, I don't want to write a book. You can see for yourself, a summary:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1960s
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1970s

All in all now, that's the stuff that influenced the people back then, and shaped the generation of 40+ year old people, neglecting their own highly influential teenage years, which are of course then the mid 70's and 80s.

All in all, I wouldn't say that today's generation is dumber. They make as smart or as poor choices as people did back then. I am a little hesitant to tackle school performances. One thing in all fairness for the following generations. As we move on through time, the stuff kids have to learn in school increases. History builds only up.
Technology skyrocketed over the last 50 years. That's a lot more material kids today have to suck up, which former generations didn't have to. Time in school itself did not increase. So they need to fly through stuff a lot faster now, which was more handled in length still 30 years ago. Creates a lack of knowledge, which isn't their fault at all.

I have noticed a big decline on social values, in regard of manners and respect tho. Young people today have a mouth, I would have never dared to have against anyone, for the fear of my dad could hear about it, and beat the shit out of me, which I would have deserved right there and then. I - or we - have learned that everything we do comes with a price, which is consequences. If we do something positive, the consequences are something positive in return. If we do something negative, that spawns a negative consequence. Manners became poorer in overall. And where it is true that respect is not something one should be given automatically (except for the elder people), it should be earned. It should however be given once it's obviously earned, and there's a decline to see as well.

Yet, I believe it will level out over time. The current generation won't be any worse or better than the former ones. When time moves on, and people come in age, people usually adjust. That's part of maturing as an adult.

[Tomatketchup]

Uhh... yeah... there is a significant difference. You got kids these days that didn't know Titanic was a real event. Lincoln was indeed assassinated and not something they had just put in the movie. There are some really dumb kids as the education standard is being lowered and the priority for kids is anything but education first. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2fHQ9eULzk

Obviously, with video editing, the video could make it look worse than it is. But, when I was at that age, I knew the answers to the questions relative to the time period (obviously, as Joe Biden wasn't the VP at the time, etc).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmEp97yQcRQ#t=37s

I can also link videos and generalize that everyone above the age of 30 thinks that Iran lies in Australia. It's not as simple as linking a Youtube video and saying that that is the proof that teenagers are getting dumber.

[Peacemaker65]

It was a much different time. It was more innocent and people had higher morals in those days. Not saying they were perfect but they understood the price of indulgence. Today, there is no respect for anything. Everyone is out for themselves.

[Wildtree]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmEp97yQcRQ#t=37s

I can also link videos and generalize that everyone above the age of 30 thinks that Iran lies in Australia. It's not as simple as linking a Youtube video and saying that that is the proof that teenagers are getting dumber.

These video's are funny as hell.... But you find them for every country, for every age group.
Collections of Street Smarts that come across as complete idiots are just that, collections.
They never reveal how long it took to gather that many hilarious answers. They are therefore never are an indicator for the intellectual level of any countries society.

[Felya420]

It was a much different time. It was more innocent and people had higher morals in those days. Not saying they were perfect but they understood the price of indulgence. Today, there is no respect for anything. Everyone is out for themselves.

Bull crap... The only thing that has changed is the over abundance of media putting out extremes. It's as wrong to assume that's the norm, as assuming it didn't used to happen because there was less attention brought to it. If every generation was right about the perils of youth in coming generations, we would be back to living in caves. People get old, bitter, with memory that has been molded to sugar coat previous experience.

Don't forget, with experience of age comes the side effect of frailty. I never understood why the 'I've forgotten more than you can remember', has positive connotations to the old. Your on the swing to forgetting, while they are learning things that you never did in your youth. You are forgetting that you grew up with pet rocks, while they are learning how to use computers. Your brain is simply no longer as pliable as it is for the youth, while technology and the world, is not slowing down to accommodate you.

[Mad_Murdock]

Anyone older than me is Out of touch and uncool, Anyone younger than me is dumber and will be the downfall of Humanity. It's been that way for 1000s of years.

In reference to the OP. I think Smarter may not be exactly true, maybe Wiser or more mellow, more level headed.

[Reeve]

I am so soooooo glad we don't have to deal with those giant filing cabinets for most applications anymore. Unfortunately, there are still some people living in the past though, where I go into their office and I see that they've printed every email they've ever received and put it into massive filing cabinets. I really don't understand people's reluctance towards change.