Whats happening to the generation before me!?
October 13, 2009OKAY!!!!!!!!!! So this blog has been sparked by a conversation I had on AIM with the lovely Casey Jane. We were discussing how much of a gap there is between us and the generation before us. The internetz is destroying the minds of all those born in 1994 and after!
Seriously. When I was a Freshman in highschool, I had the internet. But it wasn’t THAT big of a deal. Talked to friends on AIM occasionally, played some Everquest, but the internet wasn’t a place of social activity. At least, any social activity that took place was pretty underground, or to me anyway. But now, social networking seems to be the only social interaction kids are getting. I feel that instead of going out on a weekend, 15 year old Jane Doe will stay in and go live on stickam where boys here age, and creepy old men will feed her ego and make her part of something bigger then she may even understand. With people becoming “internet famous” due to sites like 4chan(rules 1 and 2 stfu) and Youtube, there is no need to interact with a person face to face to get to know them. Kids are turning to the internet to find love and emotional satisfaction (or even sexual satisfaction). They are missing out on an important thing ,called real life (teh RLz for short).
So what does this all mean? I believe that the way things are going now, we are headed for a group of kids bred to be socially stunted, not knowing how to interact with one another unless behind the guise of a keyboard and computer monitor. But if this is becoming the new social standard, what does it matter? Will face to face social interactions be a thing of the past? Will this new form of communication become the norm? I certainly hope not. Please leave your thoughts, arguments, praise, or phone number (if you are a cute girl) in the comments section so we can discuss!
Welllllllz, I have a theory that when the younger generations that you speak of come to and age where they are self self sufficient, there will be a widening gap between those blue collar workers that will be left over from our or possibly the generation before us, and those younger Internetz raised generations.
Mainly because the younger generation will need things to work effectively and since (this is mere postulation only mind you) they will have spent their time online using not one non-verbal communication, and missing out on certain craft men and trade skills, they will therefore need those with the skill set to work for them.
Since I don’t see a significant increase in plumbers, carpenters, mechanics, etc… there is reason to believe that in the future there will be significantly less of these tradesmen and therefore a larger need for them.
Hell, I have a friend that didn’t know how to change a tire until I taught him how when he was 21. If I wasn’t there I would bet he still wouldn’t know how to properly change a flat tire. Basically, more Internetz for the pampered middle class masses, less passing down of “fathers work/mothers work” cultural learnings to their children My point is here that if the younger generation doesn’t learn small things that have been passed down or have been taught because of involvement in the real world instead of the Internetz, then there will be a far greater reliance on those who can and their prices will go up, or who knows it might just disappear.