World Wide Woes

As someone who has kept a journal since she was ten, I’m not afraid to admit that I find the changes in technology slightly overwhelming and even a little frightening. I guess I’m just not used to putting myself out there, publicly. In my generation, everything was always kept under lock and key. Your thoughts were something you kept in your diary which was hidden, usually under the mattress of your bed (which is probably the first place your mother looked). Your best friend was the keeper of your deeper secrets, and your deepest, darkest secrets were shared only with stuffed animals and pets.  Honestly, I kind of admire the way the youth of this generation put it all out there. Although some people would describe it as reckless, I choose to describe the candid nature of this generation as fearless. I think my generation had more than a healthy dose of guilt weighing far too heavily on our conscience.

While the boys of my generation were scared to talk to girls and the girls followed the unspoken (and ridiculous) social “rule” of playing hard to get, this generation boasts of relationships with people they’ve never even spoken to outside of social networking and texting.  My generation wanted “space,” while this generation attempts to “friend” almost anyone including their parents. With the philosophy of “keeping your enemies closer,” kids today also keep their enemies as “friends,” even when there’s adolescent drama.  My generation grew up believing that if you had one truly good friend, you were lucky. This generation sees friendship as a number game leaving me to wonder exactly how friendship is now defined. More importantly, how is respect now defined? 

Although I don’t necessarily agree with how the concept of respect, especially self-respect, is changing, I guess it’s a good thing that kids no longer feel that they have anything to hide from their parents or the world for that matter. There’s a growing self confidence that didn’t come easy to my generation. I hold  a really strong belief in the value of building self confidence in our youth, but I wonder, Are the kids of this generation saying too much? Isn’t even a mild dose of inhibition healthy? Is growing up on the web literally messing with their minds? I'm sure there are already researchers investigating the inadvertant effects of technology on the areas of the brain that deal with conscience, moral reasoning, and/or inhibition, but here’s an idea: Maybe it’s just us, the adults, who who need to adjust our way of thinking to change with the times (just like every prior generation). If you think about it, the idea of putting yourself out there without sensing fear or vulnerability is sort of intriguing. My guess is, with the tough skin they’re developing, the kids of this generation should be just fine.