Is the internet currently changing teenagers’ behaviours for the worse?
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If it is, it also changed ours. Let's not hog all the cool shit we did on the internet as teenagers to ourselves and pull the ladder up behind us.
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Yes. Teenagers' behaviour has been changing for the worse since at least the time of the Sumerians.
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Yes. Very much. Good examples are awful pranks, dangerous challenges, misinformation and drama. They are also extremely vulnerable for the current type of propaganda campaigns.
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I teach tweens at a middle school, but don’t have children of my own. The school I work at is in a low-income area of a deeply red state in the US.
Here are some of my observations:
Many of these kids are legit addicted to their phones and short-form media. (But who isn’t in this day and age?)
I am concerned about the type of content boys are being fed. Lots to very young Andrew Tate fans and such. I overhear a lot of misogynistic or racist ideas being discussed very casually. Despite the outliers, I think many of my students are just baseline more understanding of other races, those that identify as LGBTQ+, and more aware of their emotions. Interracial relationships and friendships are common. Looking back, the 90s (when I grew up) was rife with casual racism and hate.
Some of the girls are shockingly vain. My school uses iPads and these kids will just stare at themselves in the camera non-stop. It’s kind of weird.
Social media definitely fuels a lot of dumb pranks and idiotic behavior around the school. (Again, this isn’t an issue specific to teens.)
The learning gap between the high achievers and low achievers is staggering. I have wonderfully bright students as well as students that are functionally illiterate at 12-13 years old. This is more a failure of an education system than a fault of the kids though.
These kids seem nihilistic/apathetic in a way I don’t remember me or my peers being at that age.
All-in-all, I’m remain cery hopeful of these kids, but their addiction to technology and the kind of content they get served by the algorithms is very concerning. I can’t imagine going through life without much of a formal education and building your entire worldview around social media.
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Teenagers have always challenged the social norm. For example the work OK originated from teens purposely misspelling words in letters to one another to annoy the older generation. Do I feel like teenagers today are worse behaving than when I was young? Yes, just like the older generation probably thought my generation was behaving when I was a teenager. The internet just let's it spread faster, so maybe in that extent the answer would be yes, but I don't think their behavior is the Internet's fault.
