Society is decaying around us as we speak. As much as people want to deny that it's anything they're doing, you cannot deny that it's happening. So why is it happening?
While there are so many examples of where this decay is happening, I want to address technology's role. Technology, in general, keeps us from face to face contact, which is so important in helping us develop true social skills.
Proper social skills help us feel more comfortable and more relaxed in our own skin. We, as people, need social skills to help learn what's called "social norms", or what's considered acceptable behavior. I believe that it also helps a person develop compassion for other people, other than their family.
Even if a person is communicating with other people via the internet, the interaction is completely different than if they were in person. On-line, you can pretend to be anyone. You're more likely to say things you wouldn't otherwise because there are fewer consequences. While that may be freeing, and I know that it is for me too, there has to be a balance.
Yes, you can use the internet. Yes, you can watch tv. Yes, you can play video games. Just make sure that it's not all that you do. You have to make sure that you get the face to face interactions with people in order to ground you.
I don't think parents consider how damaging the use of video games as a baby sitter can be. Older generations weren't raised on video games though they may play them now and think that they're okay, so their kids will be too. The difference, again, is frequency.
Kids today, have never known a time without video games. If they get bored, they don't run outside and play with their friends, or learn to entertain themselves. Instead, kids today will sit in front of a tv and play mind-numbing shooter games all day if you let them. When this happens, imagination is lost, and that oh so important interaction with people is lost.
Take for example, cell phones. I cannot tell you how many times I'm out with someone and they spend half their time with me, texting or talking to someone else. It's rude behavior. There is no such thing as quality time with a person anymore. While you think that you can do two or three things at once, something will always suffer if you do not focus and give one thing your full attention. And we wonder why so many kids are diagnosed with A.D.D. How can we expect kids to pay attention for any length of time when society breeds us to have a 15 second attention span?
Again, I'm not saying that we can't do these things. Clearly, I use the internet myself. I'm saying that, as much as we don't want to, we need to look at the role technology plays in the declining values of today's youth. It's just something to think about.
Labels: Society
