General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe Atlantic: Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/09/has-the-smartphone-destroyed-a-generation/534198/-snip-
Gen X managed to stretch adolescence beyond all previous limits: Its members started becoming adults earlier and finished becoming adults later. Beginning with Millennials and continuing with iGen, adolescence is contracting againbut only because its onset is being delayed. Across a range of behaviorsdrinking, dating, spending time unsupervised 18-year-olds now act more like 15-year-olds used to, and 15-year-olds more like 13-year-olds. Childhood now stretches well into high school.
Why are todays teens waiting longer to take on both the responsibilities and the pleasures of adulthood? Shifts in the economy, and parenting, certainly play a role. In an information economy that rewards higher education more than early work history, parents may be inclined to encourage their kids to stay home and study rather than to get a part-time job. Teens, in turn, seem to be content with this homebody arrangementnot because theyre so studious, but because their social life is lived on their phone. They dont need to leave home to spend time with their friends.
If todays teens were a generation of grinds, wed see that in the data. But eighth-, 10th-, and 12th-graders in the 2010s actually spend less time on homework than Gen X teens did in the early 1990s. (High-school seniors headed for four-year colleges spend about the same amount of time on homework as their predecessors did.) The time that seniors spend on activities such as student clubs and sports and exercise has changed little in recent years. Combined with the decline in working for pay, this means iGen teens have more leisure time than Gen X teens did, not less.
So what are they doing with all that time? They are on their phone, in their room, alone and often distressed.
-snip-
Theres not a single exception. All screen activities are linked to less happiness, and all nonscreen activities are linked to more happiness. Eighth-graders who spend 10 or more hours a week on social media are 56 percent more likely to say theyre unhappy than those who devote less time to social media. Admittedly, 10 hours a week is a lot. But those who spend six to nine hours a week on social media are still 47 percent more likely to say they are unhappy than those who use social media even less. The opposite is true of in-person interactions. Those who spend an above-average amount of time with their friends in person are 20 percent less likely to say theyre unhappy than those who hang out for a below-average amount of time.
-snip-
Whats the connection between smartphones and the apparent psychological distress this generation is experiencing? For all their power to link kids day and night, social media also exacerbate the age-old teen concern about being left out. Todays teens may go to fewer parties and spend less time together in person, but when they do congregate, they document their hangouts relentlesslyon Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook. Those not invited to come along are keenly aware of it. Accordingly, the number of teens who feel left out has reached all-time highs across age groups. Like the increase in loneliness, the upswing in feeling left out has been swift and significant.
-snip-
callous taoboy
(4,590 posts)both of them completely swallowed up by the iPhone culture. They are both talented and smart,
but they are socially awkward and were / are sheltered to the point of being smothered. My niece
still lives at home, and my nephew did until 22. He is in a career that he detests and that his dad
picked for him, has severe depression, drives 7 hours home every chance he gets. This article
may really be on to something that I had long suspected.
I am 52, so coming of age for me had lots of inherent risks with drugs, alcohol, reckless behavior,
early sexual experiences etc. But damn did we have some fun and some amazing experiences!
I would not trade those experiences for what the i-gen kids are seemingly prisoners of. Not saying
my coming of age was better, since I am lucky to be alive to be honest. But I do think we knew how
to live, even if it was frequently on borrowed time. Is it better to play it safe pushing buttons in your
bedroom (or wherever you happen to be as I've witnessed?)
msongs
(67,453 posts)working. would like to see how many work hours are spent doing personal things at the expense of employers who expect employees to actual do the work they are paid for
DavidDvorkin
(19,489 posts)The young no longer respect the gods or their teachers. And their music sucks.
Get off my lawn.
Etc.
Achilleaze
(15,543 posts)Xolodno
(6,401 posts)...Radio's destroyed a Generation?
...TV's destroyed a Generation?
...Walkman's destroyed a Generation?
...Video Game's destroyed a Generation?
...Computer's destroyed a Generation?
With all the things going on in the world, why do some journalist go back to this tired routine?
Mariana
(14,861 posts)It makes them feel superior.
DavidDvorkin
(19,489 posts)Some of us old people think that articles like this are crap.
erinlough
(2,176 posts)It is impossible to believe that a generation who pioneered free love, sexual expression, recreational drug use, and had the best music of any generation (imo) could have trouble accepting anything.
DavidDvorkin
(19,489 posts)I'm 73 now. Most of my peers seem to be the same.
JoeStuckInOH
(544 posts)cars, music, political activism, etc...
but 60's/70's pot has NOTHING on what you can get today. Some of today's shit is straight up nuclear... by the time those ones start to really hit, you've already smoked too much lol. Which, in the end, is really all due to the 60/70's stoners anyways because they grew up and scienced the shit out of weed.
I would probably question free love though, to tie this post back into the OP. Ever hear of tindr or grindr? if you're a half decent looking person with a smartphone, you can get laid no strings attached all the time with nearly zero effort.
Mariana
(14,861 posts)The reason I wrote "lots of older people" instead of "all older people" is because I meant "lots of older people" and not "all older people".
lostnfound
(16,191 posts)A certain teen I know has had the lessons, loves to drive, and just needs to take the test. No interets in going out. Very confusing new world.
boston bean
(36,223 posts)in his own apartment with his girlfriend (will may someday marry) .. he has a full time job as does she. I am proud if him.
Blue_true
(31,261 posts)When I was in high school, it took me weeks to get research that I needed for a project. Today, I can get 10 times the information in minutes on my smartphone.
I just finished a novel and had to do a large bit of research to write it. I was able to research complex subjects in minutes and get information that would have taken me months when I was in high school and college. Count 8-10 research events and the research time would have been years when I was in high school.
I applied myself in high school. I think kids today are smarter than I was at their age.
hunter
(38,328 posts)Especially in places with good public transportation.
My kids have cousins in San Francisco and I'm just amazed how they all get together and navigate the city effortlessly, meeting up anywhere, all thanks to their smart phones.
It's like damn, I remember payphones and driving around for hours looking for a parking place, especially one I could afford.
When I was a teen getting your driver's license at 16 was this modern world's rite of adult passage, and the licenses were pretty much unrestricted. You could give all your friends rides. Not so today in California.
Cars full of drunk teens dying in car crashes were a regular occurrence, and we all knew wealthier kids whose parents would buy them replacement cars even after one, two, or three wrecks.
My kids, their peers, and their cousins didn't seem to be in any hurry to get their driver's licenses.
When I was their age if you didn't get your learner's permit at 15 1/2 (at 14 1/2 if you were a rural kid driving produce to market), and you didn't get your driver's license on your sixteenth birthday, you were defective, there was something wrong with you, you were not an adult.