NEWSworthy Clips (3/3)
Update your vocabulary with news clips from around the world
Totally wireless on campus
Every morning, 21-year-old A. J. Hunter downloads his schedule onto his always-at-hand Macintosh laptop. Hunter is a typical tech-savvy college student. He downloads music to his iPod and accesses social networkingsites from his cell phone. He uses e-mail and instant messaging anywhere on the wireless campus.
Hunter is a "digital native"-a term that has been used to describe millennials, the first generation who grew up in a world filled with computers, cell phones and cable TV.
These young people think, act and react much differently from how their parents and grandparents did, often because their childhoods were in large part shaped by technology, say researchers.
"This is so core to their social experience-to their identities-to what it means to be a young person and a student in 2006," says educational technology expert Richard Katz.
But just because young people are comfortable with technology, that doesn't mean it's always beneficial. Some experts worry that technology is taking over the lives of today's youth. When his desktop computer crashed during the first week of classes, "I thought I was going to go insane ," says senior Nick Caine. "I was running to the library every two seconds. I didn't even go home because I knew I wouldn't have a computer."
There are other downsides to too much screen time. A recent study found that nearly 20 percent of students admit that time spent on the Internet and playing computer games resulted in low grades or dropping a class.
Technology author Michael Bugeja questions the recent gung-ho mentality toward technology: "Not only are the students addicted-the institutions of learning are addicted," he says. "No one is studying its impact, and we're still operating as if more access [to technology] is going to improve learning."
Vocabulary Focus
shape (v)--- to influence the form of something, especially a belief or someone's character
gung-ho (adj)--- extremely enthusiastic about doing something
impact (n)--- a powerful effect that something, especially something new, has on a situation
Specialized Terms
social networking site(n phr)--- 社交网站place on the Internet that connects people, allowing them to meet and communicate with one another via the Internet
millennials (n pl)--- 千禧世代also known as "Gen M" or "generation media kids"; the social group who, because of their ages, have always known life with computers
drop (v)--- 停修；中断而不故to stop something you were doing or planning to do