Are teenagers technology obsessed social inadequates?

Dear Miss Samantha Taylor,

I feel  I must respond to your article  and how the points made about teenagers of the modern age. It was stated that teenagers are becoming enslaved by digital devices and also that we  struggle to form “meaningful relationships” and are addicted to  not only mobile phones and social media but also pornography.

Firstly, I agree with what is being said about teenagers and how they are becoming attached to their devices and detached  from the real world. Teens find it hard to communicate with friends and family. They would rather post their problems on the internet then tell someone. Furthermore, adults fear the way in which teens are behaving: scientist Susan Greenfield says,  “We could be raising a hedonistic generation who live only in the thrill of the computer.” In other words, teens are missing out the natural fun things in life and would find it boring if they were to go out with their family but find it more interesting sitting on their mobile phones posting and tweeting. Adults are scared of what us teens are becoming, they are afraid that in the future we wont be able to socialise face to face.

Not only is social media and digital devices effecting our everyday life and relations to others it also effect our identity and who we really are. You quoted,  “electronic addiction is leaving a generation characterised by short attention spans, sensationalism, inability to empathise and a shaky sense of identity”.  Many celebs use social media and us teens find it hard to try and find our true identity so we try and copy and mimic the famous celebs on social media. This is affecting some teens in the case of they don’t know who they really are and what their true identity is. Social media can leave teens with short attention spams, this is a major problem, especially in school. Some teens are more interested in posting tweets then learning important factors that would help them in the future. From my own experience I have been in a class where 85% of the students heads where down looking down at their screen, sometimes I ask myself whats so important? Do you not get bored?. Many teens don’t even try  attempt to engage in lesson at all.

Another strong factor is teenagers, mainly teenage boys addiction to pornography. The internet has easy access to porn. This is very bad for teens as they are witnessing explicit images at a very young age, this can affect their mindset and damage the way they think. Many teens today have witnessed pornography whether it being on internet, mobile phone or even a magazine.

Teenagers seem to focus on social media rather than focusing on the type of person they want to become. These days, teens like status and acceptance amongst their peers. Also, teenagers are apathetic because the amount of hours they spend on social media rather than studying and planning their future. I strongly believe teenagers are digital natives, fresh minted citizens of a humming on-line world as they spend hours upon hours texting and the world is changing as more and more teenagers spend time on social networking sites. Only 9% teens are concerned about the natural and important things in life such as the government or third parties or even the environment. I was at my local youth club and I decided to ask some teens on who was the leader of the Labour & Conservative party. Only 2/10 knew exactly who they where, this goes to show that teens have no clue about the government.

To conclude, teens are becoming more and more enslaved with their phones. Eventually we will have no connection with teens and they will have more connection with their mobile phones. They wont be able to tell us their problems at all, which will only cause all of us problems.