We’re very connected and being away from our phone or computer can fill us with anxiety. On the other hand, unrestricted access to social media platforms can eat into our time and take us away from being present to our family.
We are the most technologically connected generation in history – at present that is, until Generations Z and Alpha grow a little older – but it seems, we feel more disconnected. This interesting conundrum was discovered through social researchers looking into the technological habits of today’s teenagers and young adults.
Youth Researchers Lopiano and De Luca, in their book Street Trends, write about the way in which Generation Y challenges everybody to link up and create virtual or technological communities. However, the further they looked into this technological phenomenon of MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, text messaging and Instant Messaging, they discovered that these spheres of communication have failed to create the very community that Generation Y are searching for. Thus in creating these social networks, we’re actually becoming more disconnected and more disconcerted that we don’t really feel as though we’re part of a community.
Celek and Zander, authors of Inside the Soul of a New Generation, sum up this angst: ‘They [Gen Y] feel alone, they feel abandoned, they feel alienated,’ ‘They want to connect with people. They want community.’
Changes in interaction
In 2004, 45% of teens in America owned a mobile phone. Today that figure is over 75%. Further to this, 88% of all teenage mobile phone users are text-messagers – a 37% increase since 2006. More than half of all teens with mobile phones are daily texters and as a result, texting has basically overtaken every other form of interaction between teens and their friends.
The breakdown of preferred daily communication between teens is this: texting, talking on a mobile phone, face to face communication, talking on a landline phone, social networking like Facebook or MySpace, instant messaging and email. Half of all teens with mobile phones send 50 or more text messages a day or 1500 texts a month and one third of all teens send over 100 texts a day, more than 3000 texts per month. Typically boys send and receive around 30 texts per day and girls 80. The average time spent by Generation Y on social networking sites such as Facebook is 33 hours per month and a further 31 checking and sending emails.
Changes in relationship dynamics
Not only has technology changed how we go about communicating and what forms we use, but it has also challenged existing social norms and etiquette. For instance, where once it was only socially acceptable to break up in person, we can now text, Facebook, tweet or IM to say goodbye to our boyfriends. Perhaps the most humorous representation of this technological minefield was Drew Barrymore’s character in the movie ‘He’s just not that in to you’ when she says: “I had this guy leave me a voice mail at work, so I called him at home, and then he emailed me to my BlackBerry, and so I texted to his cell, and now you just have to go around checking all these different portals just to get rejected by seven different technologies. It’s exhausting.”
But that’s not all. Previous generations grew up knowing their neighbours and belonging to a community in which they were active members. Block parties were common and your friends were likely to be kids who lived up the road. Today few people know their neighbours, and sadly as a result, elderly people pass away and aren’t discovered for days, or even weeks, because no one cared to look in after them or check on them.
We’re so busy and frenetic that we think technology will keep us close to those we love. A text here or an IM there will not make up for a face to face conversation with Mum or kicking the footy out the back with Dad.
Challenges for community
Despite all of these technological advances and social interaction, it seems that we still can’t find that sense of community that we are searching for. Perhaps the reasons for that is the fact that whilst we are social beings, we need face to face contact with other people – not sterile contact through technology.
We need quality time, free from technology, to really get to know each other, even our own family. Faces, tone and expression are important parts of communication. And a simple hug when we’re feeling down does much more than a smiley face at the end of a text from our best friend.
Fasting challenge:
This week give up all forms of social media for at least 24hours and spend the time you would have used up checking your news feed to spend quality time with your family.
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Check out the other Lenten Calendar posts HERE.
Originally posted 2015-02-18 22:16:02.