Impact of Internet and Media on Modern Youth

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The New York Times published an online article on January 9th 2010, which later appeared in print on January 10th 2010, titled “The Children of Cyberspace: Old Fogies by their 20s” on the impact of technology on the future behavior of children and adolescents. This article focuses on the distinctive behavior of children and adolescents depending on mini-generation gaps with the world of technology. Director of the PRC’s Internet and American Life Project, Lee Rainie, talked about how children and adolescents in the modern world, being only two, three or four years apart, have completely different experiences with technology which has accelerated the generation gap. Thus the results of these increased gaps between generations have caused younger generations to have a more peculiar, but unique way of creating expectations about and of the world. Although many believe this to be false, there has been much research on the long-term effects of modern technology on the intellectual and social development of children but nothing has yet to be proven since the modern technological era is still beginning, thus being able to say that the source doesn’t exactly influence the information.

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The five scholarly books examined are as follows: In Longing and Belonging, Allison Pugh discusses the role of parenting and the effects of consumerism and consumption on children. Foodies, by Baumann and Johnston, discusses how foodie culture falls under the umbrella of both democracy and distinction. Consumerism, Romance and the Wedding Experience by Sharon Boden develops the argument that the changes to the Marriage Act in 1994 shifted the perception of a wedding to a consumer-based experience. In Orderly Fashion, Patrik Aspers discusses the social order in the fashion industry. In Sharon Zukin’s Point of Purchase, she examines consumerism through the twentieth century, which brings the arguments of the above-mentioned authors into synthesis.

With technology gaining the ability to intrude upon each individual’s privacy, people are only recently becoming aware of the ways in which this is achieved—while many are focused on, for example, the NSA tapping into his or her phone, the biggest invasion of privacy comes from a system which we often turn a blind eye to: consumerism. In the article “Economic Citizenship and the Rhetoric of Gourmet Coffee”, Mathieu uses Starbucks as an example to show how one company can appeal so strongly to costumers that the consumer turns a blind eye to the company’s ethics. However, in the article “The Science of Shopping”, Gladwell analyzes the methods in which retailers try to appeal to their customers to maximize their sales.

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What defines someone as 'dumb? ' How can someone define someone as either stupid or illiterate? Our generation has the ability to access knowledge and the ability to part-take in educational seminars and activities. How can one become stupid if it is the normal lifestyle of either a teenager or 30 year old to constantly learn and practice? Other say the drive of knowledge is lost from the youth, even though the access of learning is possible most of them do not wish to learn anything. The generation of youth can learn and continues to learn everyday, not in need of passion to learn general knowledge. The focus on how the youth’s knowledge does not meet the level needed to succeed is distorted.

Since the fabric of a consumer society is based on consumption, it is imperative to understand what people spend their money on, what decisions they make about their purchases, and how they relate to the goods they buy. Consumption, therefore, is not just based on individual lifestyle or status, but it is also based on social life, such as health insurance, pensions, education, and housing (Hetherington

In our current society, the influence of capitalism and advertising constantly sways our decisions in one manner or another. As such, it can be hard to differentiate between our own actual feelings and the feelings others have created through the promotion of products. Both Hari Kunzru, author of the story “Raj, Bohemian”, and Andrea Chang, author of the LA Times article “Teen ‘haulers’ become a fashion force”, reinforce the idea that consumer society has little care for individuals and their overall well being. Both authors attest to how inescapable the influence of marketing is, how producers exploit the current youth in order to further appeal to them and expand their potential market, and how consumerism leads to a lack of free will and lack of identity. With all of these factors, it is evident that consumer society corrupts our own individual identities, often while we are exploited by the same industries we support.

When discussing internet use, the proverbial double-edged sword is perhaps more evident, and frankly substantially more terrifying, than nearly anything in this information-driven society because it’s cutting edge goes relatively unnoticed, leaving a swath of carnage in its wake. In his piece for The Telegraph, Carr supports his concern that dependence on the internet and the wealth of instantly accessible information is leaving us “blind to the damage we may be doing to our intellectual lives and even our culture” (p.19).

In response to this statement, there needs to be consideration as to whether or not a consumer society, like the one we live in in the UK, is a divided one or not and if so then where these divisions are displayed. Therefore throughout this essay, I’m going to explore some potential divides within society, specifically looking at division between the rich and poor, able-bodied and less able, and lastly the division created between those who have power to influence where we shop and those that do not have as much power, drawing on the example of supermarkets vs. small shop keepers on the high street influencing the consumer public. I will be using ideas

In today’s society, there are a number of factors that affect a child’s ability to learn. The media, for good and for bad, is the primary teacher of American youth. This environment reflects life itself, sometimes in a corrupt way, including the positive and heinous parts, along with the beautiful and hideous parts, as well as the charitable and violent parts. It is almost impossible to protect American youth from experiences reflecting the adult world when the media invades homes and becomes so much a part of everyday living. “American teenagers spend 31 hours a week watching television, 10 hours a week online, 4 hours a week reading magazines, and 17 hours a week listening to music” (Miss). Even though mass media is a huge part of a

Social media sites allow millions of people to interact with friends,family and anyone around the world. A large portion of social media users are teenagers; researchers and parents both believe that social media is having a multitude of possible effects on teenagers. This literature review will analyze research of the positive and negative effects social media are having on today’s impressionable youth. Much of the research focuses on the age range of 10-16 from well-to-do families and college students. Understanding the online environment that teenagers live in can help parents relate to their children and teach then about the dangers and benefits of being on the Internet.