iGen
Who is Generation Z? Well, Gen Z or iGens are the current generation of people that are growing up in this new age of technology. The year that started this generation was 1995 and is still going on. Generations before the iGen’ers, were not exposed to technology as much as the iGens are currently being exposed to. iGen’ers spend more of their time and energy online compared to being outside, and we can trace this back to how social media is affecting them positively and negatively. Social media brings both those positive and negative effects on iGeners, but it’s mostly negatively affecting them because of the lack of real life interactions and also because it’s hurting their mental health that is causing them to develop depression. According to Jean M. Twenge in her book iGen Why Today’s Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy – and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood – and What That Means for the Rest of Us, she talks about a thirteen year old named Athena and says “At 13, Athena has not only never known a world without the Internet, but she can barely remember a time before smartphones. This is the only world she has ever known..” (Twenge 290). Twenge is trying to tell us that this thirteen year old has never not know any form of the Internet in her entire life, she has never known what it’s like to have a world without the constant pressure of living two lives, one online and one in person. Living two different lives will have positive and negative effects on someone’s life that could change a person entirely.
There are many ways how iGeners are being positively affected by social media which include social networking, less dangerous real world situations, make new friends, and support their beliefs, and gaining different perspectives on subjects. Social networking does a lot to help iGeners be able to connect to one another through social media. It allows them to communicate about things that matter to them or about anything else in the world they might want to talk about. They can go on social media to support what they believe if it may be social justice, poverty, or anything that they feel is important to themselves, but also while doing that, they can gain so much knowledge and develop their own perspectives on what they’re seeing and reading. It also adds in the possibility of making new friends because you can meet people that you might not necessarily of met before. In an article called Gen Z and the Impact of Social Media: It’s Complicated by Barbara Herman, she states “One reason teens generally have a more positive view of social media is that they see it as a way to connect both to their friends and to a more diverse group of people. Sixty-nine percent of teens surveyed said that social media helped them interact with people from different backgrounds and experience, while 67 percent said it helped them gain access to different points of view. Sixty-six percent of teens said that it helps them show their support for causes and issues that are important to them” (Herman). She is telling us that the reason why teens feel that social media is a good benefit to their lives is because it allows them to connect with friends and more diverse groups online, interact with people different than they are, gain different perspectives, and be able to show their support for what they believe in. These are really good reasons to enjoy social media because they are allowing the user the freedom and mobility to have true freedom of speech and expression. Social media is also protecting iGeners from danger in the real world. According to Twenge, “It is a part of a larger picture of growing up more slowly rather than an overall shift toward responsibility, but it is still undeniably good that they are safer” (Twenge 290). iGens spend more time online than previous generations, thus avoiding many real-life dangers. The internet is becoming more developed, even many people can survive without leaving home. They can communicate with others on the internet, enjoy amusements and buy daily necessities. Going out becomes less important, so far this generation, they are put into less dangerous situations in real life because they go out less often. A cell phone, or a tablet, can support many iGeners’ life and basic needs. We see all these positive aspects of how social media is helping teens, but we can’t ignore the overwhelming evidence that has been piling up since the rise of social media.
Teens using too much of social media can lead to some aspects of their lives become negatively affected that they might not realize at first. Social media isn’t good for teens, it affects many parts of their lives, depending on the part, sometimes just can’t be fixed. For example, Twenge explains how social media is making girls feel left out. According to Twenge, “Grace’s experience is now common: whereas teens used to hear about social events through whispers and loose talk at school, they can now see up to the minute pictures of exactly what they are missing. iGen has a specific term for this: FOMO (Fear of Missing Out). In many ways, it sounds like a recipe for loneliness” (Twenge 97). Being left out of parties, traveling, and any important events are some reasons for girls feeling like they’re being left out. This can lead to loneliness, depression, and anxiety. This quote describes how iGens are beginning to feel lonely, which then that can lead to self-esteem and depression problems because if the girl didn’t know she wasn’t invited to a party that she never heard of then she never would’ve realized it was happening and therefore not feel left out. But since teens like to post updates frequently about what’s going on in their lives on social media, that one girl would see that she wasn’t invited to that party that everyone else did, she would then question why she wasn’t invited and begin to believe it was her fault and question herself. They start by feeling left out, then soon they feel lonely and depressed, and then the anxiety sets in and they start questioning themselves negatively. This example does mostly relate to girls but boys aren’t exempt from it also. Overall, this does go to show that teens can receive short term, long term or lifelong negative repercussions from using social media too much, and there are much greater factors of social media parents should be aware of.
A great factor that is one of the main reasons why most teens are suffering is because of depression and mental health. Our social media feeds are being bombarded with things telling us that we’re not happy until we have a certain item or you would be happier if you looked look one way. Of course we feel obligated to go out and go buy whatever it was being sold so we can achieve happiness. But haven’t we pushed away the facts that we don’t want to hear or see, or have we become numb to the truth that we already know in the back of our heads but don’t want to admit? We know social media is causing mental health problems for our teens, but aren’t willing to fix the cause? Twenge says, “But dig deeper,and reality is not so comfording. iGen is on the verge of the most severe mental health crisis for young people in decades. On the surface, though, everything is fine” (Twenge 93) and “So as teens spent less time with their friends in person and more time on their phones, their life satisfaction dropped with astonishing speed” (Twenge 96). Like Twenge is saying, iGen is literally strokes away from one is the biggest mental breakdowns. This is all because of how social media is affecting their mental health. The teenagers are becoming so addicted to their smartphones and social media that they’re living in their own little bubble world, not connecting to anyone on the outside, only concerned with what their phone is telling them. These teens are losing their mental health to social media, and not is social media is stealing their mental capacity away, it’s Also stealing their ability to socially interact with another person face-to-face. By destroying these skills, the teens won’t know how to communicate to each other without a smartphone. This is very sad to hear but it’s also hard to believe but it’s just another aspect of social media destroying the teens mental health that we have to learn to accept. In an article by Katie Hurley called Social Media and Teens: How Does Social Media Affect Teenagers’ Mental Health, she states “…University of Pittsburgh, for example, found a correlation between time spent scrolling through social media apps and negative body image feedback. Those who had spent more time on social media had 2.2 times the risk of reporting eating and body image concerns, compared to their peers who spent less time on social media. The participants who spent the most time on social media had 2.6 times the risk” (Hurley). Katie is telling us that more twice the risk that could develop some type of mental health illness for the normal teen, and almost three times the risk for someone who on social media most of their days. I feel like these statistics should be something that people should be afraid of, people need to start taking social media is a serious problem. After doing all this research and if I was a parent, I would not let my child have a smartphone until they are old enough to deal with the consequences and responsibilities of having one. Parents really need to know the positive and negative effects social media has on teens.
To summarize for you, social media brings both those positive and negative effects on iGeners, but it’s mostly negatively affecting them because of the lack of real life interactions and also because it’s hurting their mental health that is causing them to develop depression. Social media does allow for teens to express themselves and what they believe, be safer in our dangerous world today, meet new people, social network with friends, and make new friends from diverse groups. We can’t forget how social media can cause so much feelings of being left out, loneliness, and depression in the teens that they may not be used to. Also the way how social media can destroy the mental health of teens and their social skills to one another in the real world. Teens don’t seem to realize that their actions do have more consequences them they realize. I wish all teens the best of luck with navigating their social life online, but please be smart about it and know when enough is enough.
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