Is the information age ruining children's optimism?

I remember growing up before the Internet. Looking back, there wasn't that big of a difference between the 1950s "Leave It to Beaver"-type world through the world of the early 1990s, at least not in my experience. I think that can actually be proven by studying media. If there was any difference between TV sitcoms like "Family Ties" (1982–1989) and "Leave It to Beaver" (1957–1963), I think it was fairly inconsequential.

But then came the Internet and the information age. Consequently people started "waking up" to just how evil and corrupt the world really is. And with that came cynicism and apathy IMHO.

My question is:

Is that cynicism and apathy spreading to children in the information age?

Because I did grow up in an environment that was similar to "Leave It to Beaver" (although it was decades later), I remember the fruits of that type of environment. It produced innocent children who had an idealistic view of the world. We believed that justice always prevailed, adults were wise leaders, and our government existed to protect us and to always do what was right. In the information age, I don't think anyone that's paying attention can really believe those things are true anymore.

How is that affecting children?

To be honest i don't know that its the rapid information that is causing the issue with the children these days, I grew up during the great melding if you will. when i was a young child things were simple the internet was not something that people had access to, to be honest most people didnt even have cable tv where i was living. As i was intering middle school and to a much larger degree high school the internet was a much larger and accesiable thing. People had started to have it in there homes a small minority even were able to have access to non dial up access.

The changes i saw in my peers was neglagable the information didnt make us jaded the times did, we were coming off of the grunge/hip hop era of the 90s and were still trying to find our own thing (mind you were never did) and i think that is what really has this current generation in so much turmoil and jadedness they have nothing to call there own they are living in the shadows of the generation before them much as i livid in the shadows of the teens that came before me.

It leads to a lack of identity a feeling that it has all been done before thus being Jaded, i cannot blame the internet, so much as i blame the lack of innovation and lack of something for todays youth to rally around.

a reply to: Profusion

I know it's sure as hell ruining mine, so why wouldn't it affect their's?? Most children now have seen death online. Not fake death either. How,any of us could say that when we were kids?

The news is negative. The outlook for most of the country is negative. The perceived "American Dream" has all but dried up and withered away for the working class folks so yeah.... I can see why a lot of kids wonder why they should bother. Why bother to do better in school? Why bother to try and be an honest hard working member of society? Why bother trying to do it the right way when it seems like folks doing it the wrong way are always miles ahead of the rest of us??

It does lead to apathy and a breakdown of families and society in general. Being the parent of a teenager, I see many teens with an almost hopeless attitude. While we can be positive for them, they still see and hear everything around them. The constant inundation of information is almost poisoning the well so to speak.

No, adults are ruining children's optimism.

In my absolutely honest opinion, I think the Information Age is destroying the youth, not only because the outlook they have, we have is bleak, but also because of the laziness. The youth is so addicted to technology, especially the internet. None almost go without it any day, in the First World.

The numerous ways in which the internet affects the brain coouuld lead to some developmental issues, but that's entirely dependent of how much a child uses the internet.

Dopamine dependency's probably an issue among teens who use facebook, twitter, etc.

People's attention spans've been diminishing thanks to certain tech utility too. People, now, on average! Have attention spans which are less than that of a goldfish's.

Anyway, America, for certain, hasn't prioritized morality in terms of media exposure. Is this affecting people? Probably, but I can't say for sure.

a reply to: Profusion
Although information does affect us...learning is part of growing. It is society that is ruining it. They are expected to act like adults. What used to be considered simple child's play gets you placed on pharmaceuticals or imprisoned. Or worse gets you gunned down by adults who hold you to the same standard of understanding, at age 11, as they do at age 25.

Indirectly it may be a factor as now we accept the idea that because all the information is available kids now are expected to understand what adults understand...they are held to nearly the same standards as we are..of course much of that is so we can fill those money making institutions with "troubled kids" and they can be placed on money making medications.
I think that the kids are not so much changed as much as the adults expectations of the children have changed.

a reply to: Profusion

Nothing's wrong with little pessimism and information, or should I say realism.

The world needs a good shake... The sooner the better.

originally posted by: Profusion
It produced innocent children who had an idealistic view of the world. We believed that justice always prevailed, adults were wise leaders, and our government existed to protect us and to always do what was right.

Children have as much right to the truth as adults, that era produced a LOT of "children" who seem to just follow the system without question as present day adults.

See what happened?

a reply to: Profusion

Comparing eras and generations has its uses yet each generation has its own ideas and identity. How do we know that the sons and the daughters of your children will not turn around and snub the internet because they rediscover the extra dimension that reality has? We are swindled into believing the two dimensional world of the digital is more diverse than hum drum reality. Quite the reverse actually. ATS is one of the few exceptions because it saves my nose from being broken for what comes out of my virtual mouth. Ho ho ho and a bottle of rum!

I think this happens every time there is a new technology that rapidly gets news out. Radio, tv, phone, Internet, smart phone. The generation that became adults before the tech came out believed children were lazy, spoiled, depressed, what have you. Just the cycle that we humans aren't accustomed to yet as those technologies all appeared in the last like 100-200 years.

originally posted by: misterhistory
I think this happens every time there is a new technology that rapidly gets news out. Radio, tv, phone, Internet, smart phone. The generation that became adults before the tech came out believed children were lazy, spoiled, depressed, what have you. Just the cycle that we humans aren't accustomed to yet as those technologies all appeared in the last like 100-200 years.

I think it has a lot to do with the "parental" aspect of human nature. Parents are "supposed" to teach the children, not the other way around, however nowadays we have the opposite. Smart kids telling adults they are wrong, and the kids are RIGHT.

Ego and stuff, it's actually all explainable if you look into it.

a reply to: Vector99

I think you do have a point there as I have a parent that is dumb and arrogant. But try to explain to him how he's wrong and that's a whole can'o'worms I don't want to get into.

originally posted by: misterhistory
a reply to: Vector99

I think you do have a point there as I have a parent that is dumb and arrogant. But try to explain to him how he's wrong and that's a whole can'o'worms I don't want to get into.

Keep your path of education, you will be free of the arrogant parent syndrome soon enough.

Its a transitions era, pro. vs cons. Your kids are a huge experiment.

I don't believe it is the unlimited 'information' at our fingertips that is the problem.

I think it is the unlimited 'depravity' at our fingertips that is the problem.

ANY immoral or evil act you can think of is only a thought away. When I was young porn was only seen on that rare occasion someone stole his dads playboy. Now a 9yr old will be bombarded by it, and the curious, of which most 9yr olds are, can find ANYTHING they can think up. Years ago even adults DEDICATED to finding such things found it difficult to acquire.

Now, as someone else mentioned, you can watch any of an endless amount of death videos. From chainsaws, to beatings and rape, beheadings or just accidents. And NOT simulated death, it the real deal.

I know several young men who are totally absorbed by the gore section of the internet. It has had a profound effect on their personalities. They are NOT what I would have considered 'normal' 25yrs ago. I would NEVER leave them alone with a child I cared about, hell, I wouldn't leave them with my dog.

It is a very low percentage of internet traffic going to information. Want proof? Go ask your neighbors about the Fed, or about Syria, or immunizations or hell....who is YOUR congressman. Then ask the average person about the Kardashians or dancing with the stars.

To deny the internet has had a negative effect on society is simply being willfully ignorant.

Can it be used for good? absolutely....Is it used for good? The statistics say no.

ExtremeTech reports porn sites dominate the top 500 websites and Xvideos receives 4.4 billion page views per month, three times page views of CNN or ESPN, and twice Reddit.

digitaljournal.com

a reply to: stosh64

The thing is, these things have ALWAYS existed in our society. Only the information age brought it out into full spectrum, so do we do away with the information age? Or do we realize that corruption is rampant, and now we can see it and maybe work towards real transcendance.

*meaning if you keep sweeping dirt under the rug, your rug is always dirty. Now that EVERYONE knows your rug is dirty maybe you will actually clean it instead of hiding the dirt.

I don't think the impact of the information age is really fully understood yet. When the folks from the quantum age or whatever look back, I'm not sure how they'll see the society we've bred.

It feels like we barely stumbled past the finish line of the nuclear age (with only Japan taking a major hit for that little era of discovery) and here we are with a literal war for our minds being fought by every two-bit advertising agency with access to youtube. We're inundated with entertainment to dull our sense of reality while governments and corporations alike have entire departments dedicated to either hoovering (hah) up our personal data or obscuring their own facts behind layers of misinformation, spin, media corruption and lies.

And then there are the societal changes. Anyone with a phone is instantly knowledgeable on any subject but standing on the shoulders of giants and not appreciating the larger picture seems to have made us arrogant and entitled. Instant opinions are formed, beliefs are attacked and battle lines are drawn. Against faceless strangers. That don't affect our lives in the slightest. Pre-internet people should be laughing at the surreal ridiculousness of a flame war, or trolling, or even DDOS attacks.
But we're socially adaptive creatures so it's all serious business.

So has the information age made children cynical? They are definitely equipped for a much different world than their parents and grandparents. But I don't think they'll be more cynical than any other generation, because the lies they're told are reinforced by next-generation social manipulation techniques and they'll have a lot more to lose by way of virtual assets, by questioning truth.

a reply to: Vector99

I'm 27 though the advice is sound for others who are still in school and have ignorant parents. Though fair warning to those who do, get therapy as soon as you can; it may have done more damage than you first realized.

On topic:
Yeah, I think the sweeping under the rug is what the last generation wants and the current one is calling them out on just doing as the first. It's much harder to hide the skeleton in the closet these days. And that could make kids depressed like because they can't stop it.

Let's put the question this way, do you purposely lie to your children to conform them to the lifestyle and mentality you were subject to?