Think back to when you were a teen. For the most part, how did you interact with your friends? Every day after school I remember calling my best friend on the phone and talking for hours about God knows what. It was either talking on the phone or hanging out at her house. But technological advances have changed the way most teens interact. A large amount of their time is now spent online at social networking sites or text messaging.
I remember when Myspace became popular. I was in middle school and me and my friends frequently logged on. We still talked on the phone every day but Myspace just complimented that, not replaced it. Facebook and texting now takes up a lot of society’s social interaction. I am greatly surprised when someone calls me on the phone to just chat. I miss the days when it was normal to call someone and talk for hours, and when texts were just in cases of emergency.
I guess you could call me an old soul, because I long for the old days. I hate that everyone now has tablets and apple products that allow them to constantly be “logged on” and connected to the world. People can say whatever they want and be whoever they want online without fear of consequence. In my eyes, this has made a lot of people less genuine and real. People are also a lot worse in real-life social situations now because they are so use to interactions behind a screen. I can see how online friendships can help some kids who have low self-esteem, but I feel like this is just enabling their ability to make real friendships in the future.