Digital Society On Teens

Technology is a form of human globalization because it enables billions of people to communicate without language barriers in mere minutes. In the text, 'The Empathy Gap,' Sherry Turkle explains technology is causing young people to become trapped in a digital world. Machines are replacing people because they are considered more reliable. According to Turkle, this is a problem because people are replacing real relationships with artificial ones; this is causing humanity to become cold toward each other. Since people care more about a relationship on the Internet than ones in real life.

Technology has modified teenager’s behavior because it can divide teens, making it easy for them to escape their reality, causing them to lose self-esteem, and allows them to gain access to dangerous 'friends.'

Technology is a tool that can divide people. A reason for this is that teenagers try forming groups because they are suffering from an identity crisis. 'Erik Erikson is a renowned developmental psychologist who created the Stages of Psychosocial Development.

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According to this theory, young people suffer from Identity v Role confusion; it means adolescents are searching for the question of who am I?'' (Mcleod). Technology enables teens to find answers to this question. However, human beings are judgmental. Teenagers are vulnerable because they want to be accepted by their peers. Therefore, any rejection they received from the Internet can cause them to feel mistrustful, depressed, and isolated.

Some juveniles who feel divided from classmates and may write something that they regret on the Internet; this will hurt them with possible opportunities like college admissions and jobs.

Another way teenager can become divided is when technology connects them to 'haters' who reject young adults without knowing them. Adolescences can feel bullied by these 'haters' because once something on the Internet, it is there forever. Biases and prejudices are standard on the Internet; this negative feedback divides people. Sherry Turkle, a professor of sociology and psychology, makes the point being 'Technology divides our attention ...resulting in less intimacy and commitment'. Technology has caused teens to become cold towards one another because it makes eliminates verbal communication in society. This division may cause young people to want to escape.

Teenagers use technology to escape their reality. According to Web Wise Kids, a national non-profit organization to equip teens with the safe use of technology, '93% of teens ages 12-17 go online'. Thus, proving that teenagers use technology to escape life. However, it is dangerous for young people to uses technology for this purpose since it will cause them to be socially isolated. Pope Francis, a revered figure of the Catholic Church, refers to these youths as “‘social hermit’. He explains a ‘social hermit is a person who alienating themselves completely from society and this behavior typical in teens’”.

Young adult's social skills are underdeveloped because they prefer technology above traditional communication; this is true. Professor Turkle argues, 'people are struggling with face to face conversation'. Humans are social beings who need communication to survive. Teenagers limited in communication since they rely too much on technology to help them escape their reality. This reliance is a problem since teenagers are struggling with having a meaningful conversation with each other. Humans learn through talking and observing behavior. Technology has made it easy for teens to stay trap at home rather than explore the world. It dangerous for a teen to escape their reality using technology since it can hurt their social skills in the long run. Some teenagers may be trying to escape their reality because they have lost self-esteem.

Technology allows human beings to build a perfect vision of humanity, even though humanity is very flawed. Our digital society has very negative consequences on young people because they tricked into believing these high expectations—technology used on social media platforms, magazines, and music videos aimed at teens. This high expectation happened to 'Meghan Trainor, a Grammy-winning singer. She had to takes down a music video because it uses photoshop to make her look thinner than her actual size. Trainor was appalled, and she had the company make a new video that represented her size'. Society expectation, in this example, is being physically attractive. Recognizing imperfection is needed in our digital society because it allows young people not to be embarrassed about themselves.

When this line is cross, teens will have permeated scars and will be unable to recover from them until years later. Unfortunately, technology makes it easier for teens to develop dangerous behaviors, such as eating disorders and gender dysphoria. According to Psychology Today, 'gender dysphoria causes people to become socially isolated, leading to loss of self-esteem'. Teenagers develop these behaviors since they are do not recognize the falsehood technology creates. Juveniles have become brainwashed into thinking they should achieve perfection since enhancement technology is abundant in everything people view on the Internet. The effects of this are sometimes teenagers turn to others on the Internet to ask for help.

'Friends' on the Internet are strangers who may or may not have a person's best interest. A teenager is at risk when they consider the internet 'friends' as more valuable than real people they meet every day. An example of a 'friends' that do not have someone's best interest is Internet trolls. According to Pope Francis, 'An Internet troll is someone whose sole purpose is to make people upset and start a fight on the Internet; trolls do this by saying very hurtful messages.' Troll attacks vulnerable teenagers because they are open on the Internet. In fact, '55% of teens have given out personal information to someone they do not know, including photos and physical descriptions'.

Internet trolls take advantage of the Internet's lack of censorship aim towards young people since a person can get away with saying anything on the Internet. When trolls attack, teens are unable to defend themselves; the effects of these attacks are teens' ability to be open is weaken, and they are afraid to express values and ideas. Some youths might become embarrassed to ask for help, and some may turn into trolls themselves due to influences of the experience. This cycle starts all over again. Internet trolls are dangerous and standard on the web. Anyone can become a troll because trolls are born from people's bad emotions who attack others. A parent's greatest fear is when juveniles engage in conversation with 'friends' who are pretending to be a teenager too.

These people are known as predators who engage in pedophilia; this is very dangerous. A perfect example of this is the show 'To Catch a Predator' which expose the supposed 'friends' who intended to harm teenager. Predators in this show uses tactics like developing a false relationship by saying 'I love you' and 'we are now boyfriend and girlfriends'; therefore, the predators feel they have earned the right to be 'send some picture' of a teen in their underwear (Hansen). Pedophilias uses technology to create a relationship with minors to persuade teenagers to engage in sexual activities with them; it becomes an issue when they use their relationship as an excuse to meet with teens in the real world. When this line is cross, minors will have permeated scars and will be unable to recover from them until years later. Teenagers social behavior will be full of mistrust of adults and to other peers due to lies found on the Internet.

To conclude, technology connects youths to the world; wherever there is a connection, the division will always rise. Technology allows people to escape reality since it makes life easy. A teenager can lose self-esteem when they receive rejections on the Internet. Dangerous people are lurking on the Internet who intended harm to minors; this is the dark side of life expose on the Internet. Teenagers' social skills are at risk since there is no censorship on the web. The Social behaviors modified are communication trusts people, having self-esteem and becoming social hermits. These are all damage due to technology. These negative social behaviors will follow teens as they become adults.