Matt Hobbs
Professor Emerson
11/9/2017
ENG 110C
Disadvantages of the Internet
As we all know, times are changing very fast. Transitions have been made from age to age starting with the Stone Age, 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 a few examples. Each Age is evolving and creating 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 now. 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 did not have the internet to distract them, so they started working at a much younger age than I did. In my opinion, when you start working you enter the real world. I believe with their lack of distractions that the internet creates, previous generations were able 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 pushes one into adulthood, but also helps 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 are not being faced with the same adversity. They are not 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 because the internet is just one big distraction. After reading “In Defense of Distractions” by Sam Anderson, I agreed with most of his points. He makes a great connection tying the internet to being a distraction. He explains,
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)
Anderson discusses the little doses of positivity that the internet shoots, causing people to stay attuned for that random reward. The internet is basically 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 cannot go anywhere without my phone. This addiction is nowhere near a tool used by young adults to help find purpose. The distractions of the internet are prolonging the search for meaning by pushing teens off their path for finding purpose.
Addiction is a dangerous thing. Drug, gambling, and shopping are commonly known addictions. A new but very real addiction is internet addiction, and it can now be diagnosed as a mental disorder. An essay called, “Internet addiction in adolescents: Prevalence and risk factors” written by Daria J. Kuss, Antonius J. Van, Rooij, Gillian W. Shorter, and Mark D. Griffiths discusses internet addiction and the risks that it brings to adolescents. They state,
Using a modified version of the Minnesota Impulsive Disorders Inventory, 4% of US high schoolers were identified as addicted to using the Internet (Liu, Desai, Krishnan-Sarin, Cavallo, & Potenza, 2011). Higher prevalence rates have been reported in South East Asian countries (e.g., Taiwan, Singapore, South Korea and China). For example, using Young’s Internet Addiction Test (1998a) 8% of adolescents in China (Cao, Sun, Wan, Hao, & Tao, 2011) and 10.7% of adolescents in South Korea (Park, Kim, & Cho, 2008) were found to be addicted to using the Internet.
This data is from six years ago, and the percentage of addicted young adults are rising. In South Korea, about one in every ten adolescents were found to be addicted to using the internet. These addictions mean that young adults are constantly glued to their computers or smartphones. The time they are spending using the internet is taking away from time that could be spent doing things in the real world. This is sheltering these adolescents and further delaying their pursuing of purpose.
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 cannot find true purpose through the lives of others. They need to go out on their own and experience different things and not only face, but overcome, adversity. You cannot face these real-world situations behind a screen. You have to go explore and try new things to learn about yourself and grow as a person. 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.
On the internet, young adults idolize and look up to entertainers. Whether it be a professional athlete, musician, or even a celebrity whose fame was caused by something ridiculous, young adults strive to obtain a lifestyle like one these entertainers have. The internet is giving these kids false hope. Young adults who are easily influenced are spending large amounts of time on the internet. Teenagers are idolizing these celebrities who got famous for 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 the professional level. 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 I basketball. They put all of their focus on college basketball and sort of forgot about the big picture. This false hope is causing some young adults to not have a backup plan further delaying their transition to reality. The internet is attracting these easily influenced teenagers and showing them ridiculous standards set by rare lifestyles. Young adults think they can achieve these crazy lives, so they do not prepare for the real world and 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.
As I have 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 only necessary purposes, it would make this “meaning making” much easier. The limiting of internet use would drastically cut down the distractions in young adults’ lives, giving them time to go out and experience the world. This limiting of the internet would also keep kids away from the persuasion that is false realities. Altogether, 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 find 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.
Works Cited:
Sam Anderson Published May 17, 2009. “In Defense of Distraction.” NYMag.com, nymag.com/news/features/56793/.
Adams, Margaret E. Internet Addiction: Prevalence, Risk Factors and Health Effects. Nova Science Publisher’s, Inc., 2017.
