I’ve noticed lately a growing online trend of complaining about today’s youth in respect to trends, habits and interests.
Memes about the latest teen celebrity shenanigans.
Facebook pages dedicated to bullying a naive youngster’s status update.
Stupid, idiotic, naive, whatever.
That’s kinda what youth means though, yeah? Living and growing through experimentation and experience. You, too, were once an innocent (irresponsible?) child.
Every generation seems to head down this path to some degree, of being scared of the “new”, the trending topics, the irresponsible art and fashion of the upcoming generation. It’s a very familiar pattern, although today our voices are heard much farther afield.
As the digital age blossoms, accessibility of information and instant connection have arrived, although perhaps at the price of social and communications skills.
The issue I see is that more and more, the blame is being thrown onto the technology.
“It’s those damn iPads. The kids just play on them all day. They just sit on Facebook, they don’t talk to each other anymore.”
Who made Facebook? A visionary.
Who made the iPad? A legend.
Facebook doesn’t pop up and say, “Take a break, go outside and watch the beautiful sunlight, as it sparkles on the morning dew caught on the tip of a rose.”
It doesn’t say in the iPad manual, “Press pause and go talk to a friend, disagree with someone, laugh a little.”
Perhaps they should, but these are just tools. They can not be blamed for how they are integrated into our world.
Now that these tools are in every household, who has guided the children in the learning of work-life balance, the freedom of creative space, and of the importance of human connection?
Every one of us has this power.
Who is leading by example and teaching the children manners, respect, and supportive behaviour in these otherwise emotionally barren online spaces?
Every one of us has this responsibility.
Children are being raised as machines, plugged in and switched on, and the traits of empathy and emotional integrity are slowly being lost in the new digital hum. Even our education systems, with access to these tools, are becoming more and more focused on academic prowess at all cost. Little or no energy is spent encouraging children to unplug and explore their own path of creative, emotional or spiritual growth.
This is exacerbated by the accessibility of these technological tools that are designed to make our lives easier. With great power comes great responsibility. These tools have the power to teach, to enable greater learning and development, and they also have the power to hinder social development.
Our society today is slipping dangerously into a world of the technologically advanced but social undeveloped. It shows in accelerating trends such as higher drug use without education, higher crime without early intervention, and higher sociopathic tendencies without understanding.
Is it wiser to chase the horse once it is out of the gate, or to love and care for it so it doesn’t fight to leave in the first place?
With the exponential development of online communities and communications channels, there is much more space for reactive behaviour to unfamiliar trends and topics. We have so much power within our grasp that we are blinded by the possibilities, and negativity is given free reign.
Is this through laziness, denial, or simply lack of awareness?
Slander, cyber-bullying, trending topics about gossip or fads.
All such a waste of the immense communicative and connective power we have at our disposal to project creative visions of the future, to initiate positive change within the self-created walls of our society, and to break free of out-dated ideals.
We have become so accustomed to consumerism, that children are taught from an early age their life path should be focused on learning to develop their skill sets to become a cog in the machinery that is consumerism.
We learn, to work, to earn money, to consume.
Little attention is given to the true life skills.
Empathy. Conversation. Meditation. Self love. Understanding.
Awareness.
These are the skills that lead to lives fulfilled, and visions becoming reality. Life changing inventions through creative freedom.
Initiatives that change the world.
If we are moving toward living the majority of our lives in an online world, perhaps a little thought and effort need to be employed in these areas, and the sociological impact they have on our communities.
If more time is being spent online on social media, in digital forums, gaming communities, these now become the influential environments. No longer do children glean their behavioural cues from only their families, teachers, and local church group.
As active members of these digital circles, our message reaches so far and wide, that we all are now the role models for children around the world.
Your influence is mighty, and it is important.
Think about what kind of message your online presence is broadcasting.
When the youth of today create their artwork, shout out their message, develop their fashions and birth their ideas and concepts… these are to be nurtured, not shunned.
Allow yourself to foster a positive mindset, encouraging new ideas rather than projecting negativity and responding reactively to the strange new path trends are taking.
It starts and ends with you.
Be the change 😉
Embrace these digital tools as a pen, a brush, and a voice, to encourage creativity in our younger generation. They are the artists, scientists, and visionaries lining up to lead us into the future.
To lead us away from the dark path of destruction we have been flirting with for so long, and into tomorrow. Where the digital world comes of age. Where our online alter-ego’s join together, digital tools in hand, to nurture the gentle lean toward global consciousness, awareness and mindfulness.
Connected.
What would you like the world to hear you say?
