In “Do the Kids Think They’re Alright?” Eli George and Jonathan Haidt examine the effects of social media and the online culture on members of Gen Z, individuals born between 1997 and 2012. Haidt, author of “The Anxious Generation,” and George, a member of Gen Z, wanted to hear from young people who disagree with their thesis: “We think social media has changed childhood and adolescence for the worse, so much so that it constitutes a ‘great rewiring of childhood.’”
After citing and discussing a number of studies, which seem to support the George-Haidt thesis, George devotes attention to those who responded personally to the questions he and Haidt asked. Of 22 responses, four wrote positively about Generation Z and screens, whereas 18 agreed that social media had damaged their peers and undercut their chances for success.
Of these latter responses, I found two of the more general and much shorter replies particularly interesting:
“Gen Z has nothing to fight for.”
“Altogether, can you really blame Gen Z for having to grow up in such a s**t point in history, but also have the technology and information to verify it?”
These two comments reflect sadness and despair, and even an ignorance of the past and the present.
Young people who are now between the ages of 13 and 28 have plenty to fight for, though they won’t find those causes so much on their screens as in them. Artificial intelligence is daily acquiring enormous power worldwide, with positive and negative effects. To fight the negatives of AI and of screens in general, the human race is going to need all the fighters it can recruit.
Some members of Gen Z, for instance, now make use of AI manufactured friends and lovers, artificial companions who advise them and who replace flesh-and-blood contemporaries. Many are also using AI to cheat on their exams in high school and college, thereby cheating themselves and the rest of us of their education.
Such behaviors and attachments don’t come with a time limit. They don’t automatically end at age 25 or 30. Not unless we purposely halt them ourselves.
Moreover, many Gen Z men and women will become parents. Will they raise their children on screens or will they fight to raise them in a reality based on nature and real encounters with real people?
The second commentor displays a lack of knowledge about the past. You want to see a s**t point in history? There are plenty from which to choose. Read about the Black Plague, for example, which killed at least a third of the European population in the middle of the 14th century. Visit the Holodomor via a history book or the movie “Mr. Jones,” when Soviet authorities in the early 1930s starved millions of Ukrainians to death.
The point in history which this commentor denigrates has achieved wonders. Far fewer people are living in real poverty than ever before. Knowledge is unbelievably accessible; our screens alone contain more information than all the Medieval and Renaissance libraries combined. Our houses or apartments offer luxuries – heat, air conditioning, indoor plumbing, electricity, a refrigerator, entertainment at the flick of a switch – that were nonexistent less than 200 years ago. Hardly a low point in history.
The commentor also mentions that we have the information and technology to verify our opinions, but perhaps we’re looking in the wrong places both online and in the world. There’s plenty of technology and available sources that blow your verification to smithereens.
Like so many today, this commentor indulges here in victimhood, dragging his generation along with him.
Here’s a rarely stated basic truth of our culture’s addiction to screens and phones. When we reach the age of reason, when we can see the negative effects of this technology, as do the majority of the Gen Z sources quoted, we don’t have to wait for a government program or some other nanny figure to change our digital usage. We have the power, if we would only realize and use it, to cut ourselves off from social media or place limitations on it.
Walt Whitman once wrote a lovely poem, “I Hear America Singing.” More often, we hear America whining – Gen Z can fight this trend, too.
It’s easy for Gen Z – and the rest of us as well – to buy into defeatism and despair. I believe Gen Z is better than that. I say that because I know, having taught dozens of them. They can join the fight simply by developing their talents, working, loving, starting a family, contributing to community, praying – any combination of these elements will lead to a real and meaningful life.
The rest of us need you to join the fight.
Jeff Minick is a father of four and grandfather to many. A former history, literature, and Latin teacher, Jeff now writes prolifically for The Epoch Times, American Essence Magazine, and several other publications.
This culture article was made possible by The Fred & Rheta Skelton Center for Cultural Renewal, a project of 1819 News. To comment on this article, please email [email protected]. The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the policy or position of 1819 News.
Don’t miss out! Subscribe to our newsletter and get our top stories every weekday morning.
