The Internet and The Youth of this Generation

(Sibi)

The internet is a vast bank of information with answers and opinions to a plethora of questions of various genres and topics. This reservoir of data allows people of all shapes sizes and ages to do a multitude of actions, from seeking insight online to watching a new movie or tv show. With it’s easy availability, people in the year of 2022 rarely have to make an effort to seek external information. Clearly, it’s normalisation means younger people will naturally gravitate towards using the internet and today we are going to look at the effects it has on the impressionable youth.

With the great increase of internet usage in these last few years, the internet has become a safe refuge for students. Statistics from Broadbandsearch show that from the years 2020-2022, the usage of internet increased by 1355% during Covid-19 lockdown laws with an approximate 5.25 billion people out of the 7.9 billion humans on earth having access and using the internet frequently. Seeing how information is freely available younger people of this generation have a clear advantage of saving time and money compared to the youth of previous generations. The parents of many from this generation had to seek external resources for knowledge but with the existence of the internet, it acts as a bridge to straighten the process of seeking and it makes finding the right information easier. With schools, universities and all places of education encouraging the use of websites, students must have fellowship with online resources to move forward and further develop society once they are working citizens. Furthermore, because people can connect with peers from across the world, the youth also have the ability to communicate with and learn the languages, background and cultures of unvisited places with ease. The internet proves to be productive for students.

On the other hand, despite the many productive uses for the internet, you need to be aware of how it can induce a lazy lifestyle. Even though accessing information in minimal time is valuable, being raised in that environment creates a lack of drive to proactively seek knowledge. Knowing the solution to a problem is always on the internet causes us to trust in the internet, inducing an effect called ‘Digital Amnesia’. To put it plain, it means we subconsciously believe the internet houses the solution so our brain doesn’t prioritise remembering it. While this naturally happens to people of all ages, kids being raised like this will undoubtedly cause them to rely on this external source more than in actively learning. When this translates to other fields of life, children and teenagers may take the easy painless route rather than the uncomfortable – the only route that encourages growth and the one of adult life. As evidence of this lazier lifestyle, children of older generations used to go out and have fun playing with other friends whereas nowadays most kids prefer to stay indoors playing video games. Speaking of, the internet is also a place of abundant entertainment. While there’s nothing inherently wrong with enjoying yourself with a movie or playing games, the youth must be taught self-restraint from certain activities so that they lead a productive and fruitful life. If children use the internet predominantly for short term pleasures, in their futures they will have an upward battle with discipline and motivation. This mental lethargy and longing for quick ‘happiness’ will give short term dopamine rushes, influencing the younger generation to enjoy these fleeting pleasures and turn from the important duties of life. Healthline says some symptoms of depression include low motivation; feeling helpless; and a loss of interest in things that used to interest you which can be triggered when a person used to short term pleasures spends time proactively learning. The older generation had less problems here compared to this generation, further establishing the importance of showing the youth self-restraint. We can see from this that the internet is incredibly helpful however children must be taught self-discipline to maintain a balanced life rather than an unhealthy dependence on it and a life of hedonism.

In addition to this, impressionable males and females are at risk of being exposed to and being interested in sexual content. While the internet is safe and protects children from unrestricted content, pornography is freely accessible for all but those with parental controls. These industries with their agendas teach kids to sexualise and objectify women and even men in many cases. While you can argue this isn’t something a kid should be worried about, at some age statistics show teenagers watch pornography as they start to go through puberty. While the benefit of the internet is a lot of resources are free to access, this also means pornography. A study Webroot promoted suggests teenagers who watch pornography have a higher risk of depression and feelings of loneliness. Pair this with a lazy lifestyle and that teenager with a future and great potential has to now struggle with multiple setbacks before they could have stable self-esteem again. While only 1/3 of pornography viewers are women, the portion of female youths that view this kind of material may start living a lifestyle that doesn’t reflect their self-worth so it’s equally dangerous for both genders. There have been cases even in school where the girl sent a nude picture and the boy who received it spreads it through the school, with some restraint from both sides this could’ve been avoided. What’s worrying is that according to that same study, 68 million searches for pornography happen every day. The clear solution to this would be the aforementioned self-discipline. Our youth should be free enough to make their own decisions but responsible enough to see what decisions will only bring short-term pleasure and long-term distress.

Speaking of freedom, one of the greatest qualities about the internet is the fact that anyone can upload whatever they please. With this freedom of speech accepted by almost all social medias, people have the liberty to express who they are and what they stand for online on full display. This is great as young talented individuals have a platform in which people can witness their skills and act as a foundation to their future careers. Even ignoring the professional side of this freedom, the fact that the youth can display their interests online and meet likeminded people is a similarly amazing idea. As humans, we are naturally social creatures with a tribe like mentality. Our youth can find specific groups they feel like they belong in online where they can share each other’s experiences and bond. Plenty of online friends made are safe to interact to with some people meeting these online pen pals. However, parents should always be wary of evil-minded people trying to abuse the youth online. For the most part, our youth are safe as long as they don’t abuse this freedom by posting personal and private information instead of expressing themselves.

We can see balanced arguments presented for whether the internet proves as beneficial or a hindrance to the younger generation. Many of the negatives that come with using the internet can be avoided with self-restraint and discipline so the theme we are promoting here is that we must teach our youth to have self-restraint even at the cost of personal pleasures. To gain one thing far greater than the other, we have to sacrifice that lower thing. Selfishness can be limited through this too, for a functional society it requires the people in it to forsake some of their desires to lend a helping hand to others with grace. Therefore, in this way children should see the issues of a lack of control and willingly choose to limit their usage on the internet themselves. The internet is a vast expanse of beautiful content, resources and ways of communication which we should be grateful for having, children are no exception to this and for the most part should be encouraged to use the internet.