iGen are digital natives with little to no memory of a world without smartphones.

Essay  5 pages

Prompt:

iGen are digital natives with little to no memory of a world without smartphones. They have grown up utterly saturated with social media, computers and phones that are increasingly being used to take the place of face-to-face communication. The need to absorb the constant stream of incoming information has led to fears like FOMO, unhealthy sleep habits, gaming, and social media binges. Our current pandemic has forced life ever more into the virtual domain, and teens are communicating less with friends in person and are, in some cases, becoming more socially awkward and alienated because they are either not learning the interpersonal skills needed to communicate face-to-face, or because they are consciously using technology to avoid having to do so. As books die, and SAT scores (in writing and critical thinking in particular) sink, is iGen losing the ability to appreciate, interact with, and think critically about the world outside of the screen? Conversely, maybe time away from the natural outside world will be just the thing to shift iGen’s appreciation back to connecting with nature and other people again; sometimes the loss of something is what we need to be able to see what we have taken for granted. Is technological estrangement a phenomenon that will deepen, or one that will be reversed as iGen reenters the world after a long lockdown?