With nothing more than a swipe or a tap, just about anyone can launch into the digital universe. But is our increasing reliance on apps such a good idea? Howard Gardner, noted psychologist and author of The App Generation, will speak about the “app generation” on Wednesday, Oct. 29, at 4:10 p.m. in Higley Hall auditorium.
Gardner’s talk, sponsored by the Office of the President, will focus on how millennials are deeply involved with digital media and how life for this generation differs from life before the digital era. Gardner will discuss how digital technology affects young people’s lives in three key areas: identity, intimacy and imagination. By drawing a distinction between app-enabled and app-dependent uses of technology, he will show how some apps have the potential to be beneficial tools allowing users to explore their creativity.
Gardner is the John H. and Elisabeth A. Hobbs Professor of Cognition and Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He also holds positions of adjunct professor of psychology at Harvard University and senior director of Harvard Project Zero, an educational research group that examines the development of learning processes in children, adults and organizations.
The App Generation, written with researcher Katie Davis, was called “meticulously researched and thoughtful” by the New York Times. The Financial Times wrote that the book “build[s] a strong case that a dependency on apps is having a reductive effect on young people.”