When newly graduated high school students think of college, many think of the additional responsibilities and stresses that accompany the newfound freedom away from their parents’ home. But some unfair assumptions about today’s college students have surfaced in a recent book, particularly that students continue to be babied by their parents. The book, titled “Generation on a Tightrope: A Portrait of Today’s College Student,” was released Tuesday and stated that today’s generation of college students is “coddled, entitled and dependent,” according to an Aug. 20 USA Today article. While authors Arthur Levine and Diane Dean agree that students are more “tech-savvy” than previous generations, they also said this current generation of college students is unprepared for life in the real world and is heavily dependent on its parents. And although technology – particularly social media ­-­­­ has proved to be a significant distraction to students in class and at home, its inclusion in our lives has better prepared us to live and work in a technology-friendly world. In an interview with USA Today, Levine said, “This is a generation with an average of 241 social media friends, but they have trouble communicating in person.” Mark Bauerlein, an English professor at Emory University, said Generation Y – usually defined as the generation born between the early 1980s to early 2000s – has grown up attached to technology, but social networking provides “the sense of them being the center of the universe,” according to a June 2009 USA Today article. Unfortunately, this generation is truly too tightly connected to technology. I’ll even admit that I feel lost and out-of-touch without my cell phone at my side. But this generation’s knowledge of technology also prepares students for a tech-savvy world. Kari Walters, LSU’s director of instructional technology and online programs, agreed. “Just about every job today is affected by technology in one way or another,” she said. “It may be through direct use of a computer to do your job, or by using computerized equipment that helps you accomplish your job.” But Levine and Dean don’t stop at this generation’s dependency on technology. They also argue that students are heavily reliant on their parents. In a recent interview with NPR’s Neal Conan, Levine said parental involvement was the biggest change in colleges across the country in the last decade. During my freshman year, I lived with a homesick girl and her mother via Skype, but such behavior is not the norm for today’s college students. A glance at today’s students at the University will show a group of hard workers and multi-taskers. Many students are proactive in searching for internships and gaining valuable experience to get ahead of the game, and women are becoming increasingly career-oriented. Every generation of parents tells their children that life as a student today is easier in comparison to 40 years ago, but the Russian doll situation of “my life was so much harder than yours” will likely continue for generations to come. When our children take class notes on their iPads in the future – if not some new technological monster yet to be known by mankind – be sure to mention how difficult classes were when laptops were the main note-taking device. Kate Mabry is a 21-year-old mass communication senior from New Orleans.