Kids Today

So I was sifting through the articles featured on Yahoo!. I came across this article, 10 things you don’t know about teens and social networking. It seemed interesting so I opened it in a new tab to read the entire feature. Reading through the quotes, my first thought was, “Seriously?!?” It just seemed like all these kids were so pathetically obsessed with social networking. It came to the point where I had that odd feeling that I was reading a work of fiction. Their opinions just seemed so absurd that I couldn’t contain my laughter, at times, and condescending smirks, at others. Just to get my point across, one of the supposed quotes was, “[i]f you are not online, you are completely out of the loop – you don’t have a life, you don’t really exist.” I mean, really, who would be able to stop the urge from rolling his eyes and sarcastically saying, “right…,” at that comment?

But, after reading it in full, there really were some insightful opinions there. And it got me thinking that, maybe, it wasn’t that the comments were really stupid. It’s more that I just didn’t get them. It made me think that maybe the times were really changing and these opinions were really just a sign of that. God, I really must be getting old(er) ‘cause I couldn’t even fathom an ounce of understanding for what kids in the states today are feeling. I mean, I don’t have to feel the same way they do but the gap must really be that great ‘cause I can’t even imagine feeling the same way that these kids do.

Don’t get me wrong. There were really some superficial comments there which I think I would never feel even if I were a kid today. Case in point, “I feel sad, depressed, jealous, or whatever when I don’t get a lot of ‘Likes’ on my photo or when someone else gets way more Likes than me….” That’s just pathetic. But there were stuff in there that made sense. Like that thought of how, if you go to a party, you’d make an effort to document everything so you could post it online; “[i]t’s not about the party anymore but about the pictures of the party.” It was these kinds of opinions that got me thinking that there really is a new means of communication and, even if I am experiencing it for myself, I’m clearly not experiencing it as pervasively as these kids are. Social networking has not only become a new form of expression; it may even be a more dominant form for these kids.

But it also could be that these kids are just being the melodramatic and angsty teenagers that they are, who always have a tendency to exaggerate things. Before I make any more statements verging on libelous, let me just say that, whatever the case, it’s definitely an indication of what the future has in store….

Aldous Benjamin Camiso, Blog Entry #10.

Article Source: http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/parenting/10-things-you-dont-know-about-teens-and-social-networking-2527367

Image Source: http://www.gev.com/2011/04/popularity-of-social-networking-sites-3/