THE idea of older people uttering concern about how touch-screens are damaging the young is so much laughable to me. Why? This fear that the internet is going to ruin "real human interactions" is a big #throwback to some parents in the 50's who were troubled that Elvis' shaking those sexy hips was the devil's work.
Millennials and iGens are no different from Gen X, Baby Boomers or any earlier age band when it comes to being affected and transformed by what we call "culture shift."
Correct me if I'm wrong. In the 40s, people had their heads on the newspaper and ears on the radio. During the 60s, it was the television. Fast forward today, we see everyone with smartphones and laptops while taking a sip from a cup of frappe.
See where this is leading to?
During my talks, I've known heaps of teenagers spending 30 minutes or more to take the best selfies, kick it online, and take it down when it doesn't get enough likes. Oh! So technology promotes self-obsession, right?
Wrong.
This outward behavior of being appearance-driven and attention-seeking in teens had always existed. Truth is, majority of young people have always strived to be liked and sought the attention of their peers and would-be significant others. Thus, Instagram and Snapchat selfies are just the evolution of this same behavior and technology provides us an additional channel to address these behavioral tendencies.
Technology has not changed us at all, but it exposes who we truly are as beings. And it makes it easier to engage in deeds that we would rather be doing anyway.
A kid who wants to belong but has "no friends" in school now has the opportunity to find a squad with similar interests through other social platforms (which is highly important, by the way.)
Yes. I'm an optimist. It's normal to get frightened of everything that we didn't grow up with. But neither did we know how to ride a bike or drive a car at 120kph.
As an influencer once said, "every new medium brings along a healthy fear that the newest invention will ruin society. But, the truth is that people will always be looking for new ways to be entertained, consume media, and engage with each other."
There will always be something in every generation that we think is going to bring us down as a society.
In fact, we, the next generation of parents would possibly wish for the days of Instagram selfies when the virtual reality world takes hold. See me when it happens!
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