The Changes Caused by the Smartphone on Our New Generation

Last Updated: 19 Apr 2023
Pages: 3 Views: 237

The author Jean M. Twenge of "Has the Smartphone Destroyed a Generation?" The authors thesis is; The presence of the internet radically changed the nature of their social interaction to their mental health of today's children and teens. The Article puts lots of emphasis on three main points. First the Change in iGen. Second the Social interaction. Third the Mental Health.

Twenge begins to talk about the Change in iGen. The graphs of generational differences typically reveal a modest change but now the graphs reveal abrupt shifts, steep mountains and sheer cliffs. The Generation that's shaped by the smart phone and social media, is called or known as igen. Even though the the millennial generation grew up with the web, it was different.

The web wasn't available or present at day and night. The boomers were all about the the idea of making your own choices even if your parents wouldn't think they were the right ones. In short known as independence. Gen Xers postponed the traditional marker of adulthood. iGens didn't grow up not knowing what it was like to not have a phone. A lot of iGens would say that they like phones more than human interaction.

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Twenge then talks about Social interaction. Teens that spend more time on social media or their phones but spend an equal amount of time with friends are considered highly social in both venues. But those who spend more time on their phones with less in person friends are less social. Today aren't hanging with friends instead they are sitting in their rooms alone on their phones. The stretch of adolescence beyond all the past limits. Today aren't working or managing their own money.

Therefore they have more free time. But all that free time goes to their phones. Teens also aren't driving, their parents drive their kids where they want to go. The parents do this till they don't want to then they nag the kids to get their license. Today's teens are less likely to date. Most kids just talk or are in the talking stage. Which is over phones or social media. Teens today aren't having sex as quick as past generations.

Then Twenge talks about Mental Health. Teens and adults who don't sleep enough are prone to depression and anxiety. Teens that spend more time on their smartphones and less time with people in person are more common to feel depression. Teen girls use social media more often, which gives them a bigger target on their backs for feeling lonely or being cyberbullying. Girls have more opportunity to see when they see their friends or classmates getting together without them.

Girls don't physically bully they cyberbully, which is where girls are undermining a victim's social status or relationships. Teen boys physically bully. Boys tend to believe one another physically. Their suicide rate is also higher because they use more lethal or physical methods. Teens sleep with their phones either an arm length away or they are under their pillows. Since they they feel comfort in the thought of having their phones close while they sleep. It would make sense that they check their phones before they sleep and when they wake up. But with this system the teens smartphone is cutting into their sleep.

Teens that check their social device before bed are more likely to sleep poorly and are twice as likely to feel sleepy during the day. Sleep experts say that Teens need no more than nine hours of sleep, but no less than seven. When teens get less than seven hours they are significantly sleep deprived. Smart phones could be the reason that's causing lack the of sleep which is leading to depression. Or it's the other way around? That phones Smart phones could be causing depression which is leading to the lack of sleep. Teens that go on social media every day, and don't see their friends in person often agree that they feel lonely a lot of the time, or that they see that they are being left out and start to feel lonely because of it. Although teens don't go to as many parties or spend much time together but when they do they post it all over social media for others to see.

The author concludes by a antidote about Athena who is trying to talk to her friend but her friend is on her phone texting. So Athena who's a volleyball player throws her friends phone.

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The Changes Caused by the Smartphone on Our New Generation. (2023, Apr 19). Retrieved from https://phdessay.com/the-changes-caused-by-the-smartphone-on-our-new-generation/

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