Greetings, dear people!
I'd like to share with you some thoughts that have been on my mind for some time now. It's impossible not to notice the influence of technology on our lives, on the whole world we live in. And, even though the evolution of technology brought significant developments in the fields of medicine, industry, education, communication, well, basically in every field of life... We need to ask ourselves - how does this impact the young people that are practically growing up in a virtual world?
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I'm 25, I was born in 1992. I'm happy to say that I am one of the lucky last generations that have had a "real" childhood. I won't even apologize for saying that. Groups of 10 children playing hide and seek out in the fresh air, playing very unprofessional football or basketball, running home when the street lamps turned on because we knew we were only allowed to stay out until it gets dark... Scraped knees that left a few small scars that today remind us how amazing it was to be a kid in the 90's. And today... Well, to simply say that I'm saddened by the environment that young people develop in today, would be a massive understatement. It's miserable and it's depressive.
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Children growing up in virtual childhoods
Children nowadays are practically being born with a cellphone in their hands. I’ve been spending time with my sweet little 6-year-old cousins last summer. They reminded me of myself when I was their age, young and innocent and without a single worry in the world. Ah, the good times… But, as I was nostalgically reminiscing about the pure, joyful days of my childhood, it hit me… They’re nothing like me. My childhood was full of movement, I would play with my friends, run, jump, drive a bike, laugh, scream… It was LOUD. On the other hand, the two of them would just be sitting next to each other on the stairs and stare each at her own tablet. They were being quiet. And I suddenly felt sorry for them. Although in a way I understand their parents, it’s easier to put a tablet in their children’s hands, than to watch out for them all the time, right? But, what about socialization, friendship, sharing and other moral values children learn through the actual communication in the real world? Where does all this lead to?
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Inappropriately "dressed" teens with +10 000 followers
For a few years now I've been seeing young girls posting inappropriate content on their profiles on different social networks. Yes, I mean naked, or almost naked pictures of 14 year-olds, wearing waaaay too much make-up on their faces, making them look like 30-year-olds. What's even more concerning, these girls have 10 000 and more people following them on these sites, who knows what kind of people and why. Those are big numbers. And those numbers mean everything to these girls. Everything revolves around them - what they wear, where they go, how they act... Everything they do, how they live, how they think is subjected to the image of themselves they want to achieve in the virtual world. The higher the number, the more popular, more "important" the girl is. These numbers turn them to miserable, shallow and empty puppets who try really hard to present themselves as zombies that have nothing else to offer, but their “good looks”. It’s a sad reality that precisely these puppets advertise a world in which a woman is more desirable the more skin and less intellect she shows. A world in which young women, instead of aiming to develop into stable, benevolent and intelligent adults, are reduced to pure sexualization. And the saddest part is, these girls are role models to other, even younger girls. Next thing we know, we have generations and generations of idiots whose only guilt is not knowing better.
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Naive kids acting like brainwashed zombies
A few days ago in the city where I grew up, two 17-year old girls had a fight, a real punch-in-the-face, pulling-the-hair, kicking, beating fight. You know why? It wasn't because of a boy, or homework, or any other foolish reason that is not even a reason good enough for them to start punching each other. They actually agreed publicly to fight each other in order to be filmed and get likes on social networks. They invited other kids to come and watch. I don't know is that more depressing, or the fact that 120 other teenagers came to see them fight, recording them with their phones and rooting with sick ignorant smiles on their faces. Their fight made it to the news all over the country, and even all over the region. I guess it's a good thing it did, at least the problem is being acknowledged on a higher level, right? But how do we solve it? Can it be done? Or has the technological development irretrievably opened the Pandora's box where our young generations are being devoured by the deep brainwashing stupidity of new age? And all we can do is dream of better times while we watch helplessly as our young padawans drown in the sea of nonsense and ignorance?
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Love, FotograPixx
Very well written, but articles lamenting about technological development usually don't get much attention here :)
If anything, Steemit is going to make matters "worse" - imagine how hard will those girls fight when they realize they can get upvotes worth real money for their silly videos.
Thank you, I understand what you mean. I do not plan to write of these matters in the future, I just needed to get it off my chest at the moment because here in Croatia we keep hearing about this in the media last few days constantly... :-)
I actually don't lament about the technological development, on the contrary, I greet it. I just feel sorry for the "collateral damage". :-)
As for the Steemit... I still hope there are more reasonable people here :-D