Matt Hobbs

Professor Emerson

11/9/2017

ENG 110C

 

Disadvantages of the Internet

 

As we all know, times are changing very vast. Transitions have been made from age to age starting with the Stone Age, that being followed by the Bronze Age, then the Iron Age and so on. The Age we are in now has many names. Big Data Age, Social Age, and the Information Age are just some of the names. Each Age evolving and having different ways of life. The Big Data Age that we live in now has been going on since around the 70’s. The world that my parents grew up in is unrecognizable compared to the one I am growing up in. Inventions like the smartphone and portable computers have drastically changed the way children are growing up. The internet is now at everyone’s use, no matter how young. My parents age didn’t have the internet to distract them, they worked at a much younger age than I did. I believe this lack of distractions, the internet, caused previous generations to grow up faster. They were placed into the real world to provide for themselves, causing them to be faced with adversity and real life situations. Overcoming adversity and dealing with these situations not only push one into adulthood but these factors help young adults, who are growing up, find true meaning. People of today are put at a disadvantage when they are trying to use the internet for meaning making or pursuing purpose. Young adults of this generation aren’t being faced with the same adversity. They aren’t being put in these real world scenarios where they have to overcome certain problems. Instead teens and young adults are trying to use the internet to find purpose as almost a substitution for real life experiences.

A main reason I think young adults or teens are being put at a disadvantage is being the internet is just one big distraction. After I “In Defense of Distractions” by Sam Anderson, I agreed with most of his points. He makes a great connection tying to internet to being a distraction, “The Internet is basically a Skinner box engineered to tap right into our deepest mechanisms of addiction. As B. F. Skinner’s army of lever-pressing rats and pigeons taught us, the most irresistible reward schedule is not, counterintuitively, the one in which we’re rewarded constantly but something called “variable ratio schedule,” in which the rewards arrive at random. And that randomness is practically the Internet’s defining feature: It dispenses its never-ending little shots of positivity”a life-changing e-mail here, a funny YouTube video there”in gloriously unpredictable cycles.”(6) He discusses the little doses of positivity that the internet shoots causing people to stay attuned for that random reward. The internet is practically targeting teens because teens and young adults are the most susceptible to becoming addicted to the internet. We have all either experienced this addiction or seen it first hand, I know I can’t go anywhere without my phone. This addiction is no where near a tool used to help young adults find purpose. The distractions of the internet are prolonging the search for meaning by pushing teens off their path for finding purpose. The internet is doing this by flashing teens with this unrealistic way of life that is desired by most. Ads following ads that are showing kids fake shortcuts. “Get rich quick” is a perfect example of a common ad that sways young adults realistic goals.

I like to call these shortcuts false realities. The internet is giving these kids false hope. Teenagers are idolizing these celebrities who got famous of a one and a million chance. For example the NCAA website has an article which talks about how many NCAA basketball players make it to be a professional. It states that only 1.1% make it to the pros. But there are millions of kids who not only dream but plan on making it to the National Basketball Association. I can relate to this example because my whole family plays or has played basketball at a collegiate level. My two older brothers both played division one basketball. They put all of their focus on college basketball and sort of forgot about the big picture. Don’t get me wrong, not having to pay for college must have been nice for them, but they never thought of a backup plan if basketball couldn’t become a career for them. Thankfully both of my brothers are doing just fine now but that’s not the case with every student athlete. This false hope is causing some young adults to not have a backup plan further delaying their transition to reality. That is just one example of many. The internet is attracting these easily influenced teenagers and showing them ridiculous standards set by rare lifestyles. Kids think they can achieve these crazy lives so they don’t prepare for the real world and they are stuck trying to find their real purpose later in life.

Young adults need to find a way to crack this addiction and face reality. All the internet is doing is giving these teenagers a false purpose to try and find. In my opinion, finding your purpose takes real world situations. This may be why my parents “grew up” at a much earlier age than I have. A person can’t find true purpose through the lives of others. They need to go out on their own and experience different thing and not only face but overcome adversity. You can’t face these real world situations behind a screen. You have to go explore and try new things to learn about yourself. Like I said before, kids are easily influenced. Having families, friends, and communities there to help shape children will be a big help in the long run for those kids. Families and friends help raise young adults and keep them on track. No one knows how a child might end up if he or she grows up learning things on the internet. Parents should be the ones influencing their kids not some stranger behind a screen.

As I’ve said, this generation is being negatively affected by the internet. Finding purpose in one’s life has become a harder task to do because of all of these distractions. If this generation were to cut down the use of the internet or even use it for convenience purposes, it would make this “meaning making” much easier. The limiting of internet use would drastically cut down the distractions in young adults life giving them time to go out and experience the world. This limiting of internet would also keep kids away from the persuasion that is false realities. All together, the cutting down of internet use would allow young adults to face and overcome adversity and situations in the real world. How you overcome adversity and how you face these problems form who you are as a person. Each problem you overcome is pushing you closer to finding your true purpose and that is why I believe the overuse of the internet is putting young adults at a disadvantage when it comes to finding purpose.