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It seems that every generation has something that pulls them farther and farther away from the generations that preceded them. Television was going to rot everyone’s minds. MTV was corrupting the youth. Now the Internet and modern technology, like mobile phones, texting and social media have come along. The only difference this time is these forms of technology actually remove teens from face-to-face situations and interactions, reducing social skills and the ability to deal with real world issues.

The Benefits of Tech
Make no mistake; technology has given us an extraordinary number of benefits. Finding information has never been easier. And neither has communicating with people from all over the world. You can find out what’s happening in another country two seconds after it happens. These are great things that should be celebrated in our lives as remarkable steps forward.

Likewise, using the Internet and social media allows greater flexibility when it comes to school and work life. Telecommuting is on the rise. You can find actual sources for your papers and essays and research a variety of periodicals, journals and newspapers with just a few clicks.

Immediacy as a Flaw
The immediacy of technology has drawbacks, however, especially for young people. Sure, it can provide quick answers to your questions, but it can also provide lackluster answers. That is, not all information on the Internet is equal and teens (and many adults) don’t have the discerning eye to tell fact from fiction.

Since news is reported the second it breaks nowadays online, it can also be hard to parse out what really happened from what the general first impressions are. All of this can lead to a muddy and inaccurate view of the world, especially for impressionable teens.

Inability to Communicate
A major part of growing up used to be learning how to communicate with the world properly. In fact, you’d have to learn proper phone etiquette, how to write a letter and how to have a face-to-face discussion for job interviews and for social situations. However, these skills aren’t emphasized as much in schools anymore, leaving many teens relying on texting, instant messaging and emails (though even less of that these days) to communicate.

This is fine for casual situations, but it won’t necessarily do teens any good when it comes time to enter the workforce. Plus, it can breed laziness in effective communication. Textspeak is becoming a real problem in schools. Some teens even submit their papers using textspeak instead of proper English. This is frustrating for instructors, yet there seems to be little that can be done to put a stop to it.

Lost Time
One of the biggest problems with technology and young people is how much of a time suck it can create. Anyone who goes online can recount a time where they spent hour after hours on Facebook or YouTube. But many teens find themselves making this a daily habit. It doesn’t matter if they tweet, text, chat, post status updates, scroll through Tumblr or watch videos. What does matter is that all of these social media attempts to keep people more connected can create a massive loss of time, leaving kids with unfinished homework and a failure to reach their goals.

Whether technology is truly causing us to lose our youth remains to be seen. It could just be a generation gap, or a difference in perspective. After all, weren’t video games and TV the previous teen time-waster? Even so, it might be worthwhile to peel young people away from the glowing computer screen and put them out into the sunlight once in a while. At the very least, it couldn’t hurt.

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