The internet is a vast sea of information that is accessible to anyone of any age around the world. Every day, we use the internet in many ways we can – from a simple Google search to checking our social media page – this generation is the closest to the internet than any other generation has been.
With the continuous improvement and ease of access to the internet, we can anticipate that the next generation will be even closer to this technology more than we ever will be. The signs are all around.
So in social anticipation as well, here is how we see the internet affecting our younger generations.
Socialization
One of the most observable effects of social descent that the internet has brought is the rise of social media use and less actual socialization.
Young people and younger generations are quick to sign up to the newest social media platforms that they see, which in all its intentions may be good, but the effect on children is unlikely.
More and more children are becoming withdrawn and are more focused on their internet pages than actually looking around.
Although the internet provides intellectual answers to many questions that we have, sometimes the true and the fake information gets mixed up.
With younger generations getting more attached to the internet for knowledge and information reference, they may come across fake sites and fake information that can cause more harm than good.
Spending more time on the internet instead of the “real world”
Relatively, the internet has seen many improvements from when it was first introduced to the world, especially in terms of entertainment.
Young and old alike have bookmarked specific internet pages that they find entertaining.
The main downfall of this is that younger generations are more entertained with internet-related entertainment than they are of real-life experiences such as nature and vacations.
Young generations sometimes prefer to stay comfortable in their homes while browsing through the internet, instead of going on a hike or a park with their family and friends.
They have fewer experiences outside with nature and with the real world, and are more in tuned with browsing through pages and pages on the web.
If a child is left on the internet with less supervision from parents or guardians, they become more prone to cyber bullying and cyber crimes. Children may have less experience, thus less judgment, into trusting unsecured websites and clicking unsafe pages.
Also, less guidance can make them easy targets for cyber bullying which is admittedly a common issue amongst children today.
Bottom Line
The use of this extremely helpful type of technology can bring our next generations to greatness, with so much knowledge at the tips of their fingers. It is up to us, their mentors, to ensure that they only see the beneficial part of this amazing technology. As they say: the internet is forever.