Morning, for the group of girls by the escalator, have become the time to watch the most recent video by a YouTuber. Whether its PewDiePie, Tyler Oakley, Joe Sugg or Zoella, there’s an infinitive cycle of new videos to keep them entertained every morning before class. This routine has become a daily habit for them and possibly for many more. Just a few years ago there were actual conversations with your friends instead of the semi-quiet environment that is produced because there are no exciting talks about what happened just yesterday.
As a girl arrives at school, she goes up to her friend and sits down beside her. She asks “What are you watching?” the friend replies without removing eye contact from her phone “Tyler Oakley’s new video. It’s so funny!” The girl nodded and went to her phone to watch the exact same video. After the video ends, the girls stand up to go up to their classes with their friends discussing about the video and many more to come. Is that what we want our future conversations to be made out of?
It seems as if we are connecting invisibly through the internet. Now people are competing for the number of followers on Instagram, friends on Facebook and subscribers on YouTube. The new video is the new talk for these girls every morning now whereas it used to be about subjects in school or something interesting that has happened.
Though the internet has brought people together, it has significantly brought people apart. Everything on the internet has a learning purpose no matter how big, small, meaningful or not. YouTube has become a bookmarked page to lots and it has swimmed it’s way from the occasional video to a morning routine.
Is technology a barrier to deeper conversations, or is it the start? Though it has helped students to gain more information and adults to succeed further, has it shaped our world too much? This is not the first article to say this but it is a great reminder to how much people should appreciate technology but at the same time people should be aware of how much time they spend on the internet.
Written by Seika
I am an 8th grade teacher in Wisconsin, USA. My students are new to Investigative Journalism. They read and have responded to various articles you have written. Although we are not ready to blog individually, I would like to share their response with you:
ReplyDeleteI agree teens spend too much time on the internet and show talk more with their friends. Some electronic contact is okay, but when it takes away time to actually talk with their friends it should be limited.
Thanks!
DeleteI am an 8th grade teacher in Wisconsin, USA. My students are new to Investigative Journalism. They read and have responded to various articles you have written. Although we are not ready to blog individually, I would like to share their response with you:
ReplyDeleteThe article was good, but why did you only refer to the girls? What abou thte guys? What abou the younger and older people? People at our school normally don't go on their phone, we socialize. We agree that the world lives on technology, some of it is good, some of it is harmful, but we can also learn a lot too.
I agree, technology has it's ups and downs and thanks for your feedback! I would definitely like to explore some more on this issue with different age groups and genders. I think depending on which school you go to and what kind of background you grew up with, the way we socialize would be different and change.
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