This week consisted of four articles, watched two videos, and browsed one website. In class this week we heard from group 5 and they presented the book Information Wars: How We Lost the Global Battle Against Disinformation. They did a great job and it seems like they understand the book and it was perfect for this discussion. Our generation is the most affected by the change in technology. In the older days, people could easily escape what people or bullies said about them. In today’s society mean comments and stereotypes of what you should be is everywhere. “I think social media has taken over for our generation. It’s a big part of our lives, and it’s kind of sad.” (Kendall Jenner) In our article, The Kids Are Not Alright, the number of young people who are struggling is rising, experts claim, and they are trying to find out how best to help. Teen minds have often longed for stimulation, and by default, their emotional responses are urgent and often weakening. The biggest variable then is the environment in which this stage of growth is navigated by teenagers. There was a pervasive feeling in hundreds of discussions with adolescents, parents, therapists, and school counselors around the nation that becoming a teenager today is a draining full-time job that entails doing schoolwork, managing a social-media persona, and fretting about career, climate change, sexism, racism, you name it. For hours or days after the event, every fight or slight is reported online. They’re exhausting and teens are exhausted. 

In our other article, Rushkoff Study Guide, we read about how social media and our phones have affected us and have changed the way we think. Time is a notion unknown to our digital devices. This condition has led us to be more concerned with the latest information than with the most important information. We must extend the notion of time to our digital devices in order to remain functional, productive humans. The digital world offers the potential for interaction between groups of individuals who may not be close to each other physically. This is an exciting technology growth, which has many proven advantages for bringing people together and enabling knowledge to be crowdsourced. There are elements of physical interaction, however, which can not be simulated by the use of digital media. In translation into the digital world, eye contact, physical touch, facial expression, and movements are sometimes lost. Choice number one should always be in-person contact. In our world, we should reconnect with people and not let ourselves be drawn into the allure of checking our phones every two seconds. It is essential that we can not forget what personal interaction is and how important it is to us, because if we forget what is left for the generations after us? Will they know personal interaction or will they be subject to phone interaction and not knowing how to talk to others? It is a scary thought that we could be subject to exclusively phone interaction and no human contact. During covid, we have all felt this and I can say I personally hate it. Not being able to go anywhere or being forced to facetime the people we miss instead of seeing them in person. 

Have you felt this? How are you doing through this pandemic? What do you think life would be like if we didn’t have interaction with others?

Weekly news: