So as I have discovered, I am in fact part of this “App Generation” we read about. I do not remember a day without technology and computers. Out of those in my graduate class, I am the one most similar to our students when it comes to being a technology native. So let's take a look at the “Three Is”
I most definitely feel as though my identity and feelings about myself change through the use of social media. I am constantly comparing myself to others whether I am comparing my life in general, my looks, my happiness, etc. Before you would just compare yourself to people you knew or were in school with, now you are “competing” with everyone else on social media. Everywhere you turn someone is prettier, or smarter, has more friends, is living the “perfect” life. This is leading to a generation of depression and constant competition.
I have over 1,700 friends on Facebook...that is absurd! Are they actually my friends? Do I really care about what they are doing in their life? Do I actually know them? The answer to all of these is no! The few handfuls of people I consider my friends are people I talk to and spend time with on a regular basis, and I don’t need social media to determine our “friendship.” Many of the relationships, referred to as “intimacy,” we have online are superficial, we don’t actually know or truly care about the people we are connecting with. Dating apps...I hate them, but unfortunately, people my age do not know how to socialize in person. They would prefer to hide behind a screen. You go out to a place where in the past you would be able to meet people and not a single person talks to you, it is the strangest thing. I am “old school” I guess when it comes to relationships and wanting to communicate with people face to face. I see my students struggle to communicate or play with one another because they are so used to doing it through a screen.
I like to think of myself as a pretty creative person, but it turns out I am not imaginative. I like to make things or design things that have already been made but with my own spin. I love Pinterest and teacher Instagrams where I get ideas and use them. They might be arts and craftsy, but not imaginative. I am pretty artistic, but again, I look up things and copy them, I do not necessarily come up with original ideas. I see this with my students. You ask them to create something to solve a particular problem, and they can’t! You ask them to write a fictional story, they can’t! They end up using bits and pieces from things that they have already read or heard of or seen in order to get the job done. It is all about getting the job done quickly, not about putting in the effort to get imaginative. If we continue to lose our imagination, what new inventions or ideas or discoveries are going to be uncovered...maybe none.
Being part of the “App Generation” is a double edged sword. We are technologically advanced, but everything else is beginning to slide.
