How has technology affected the lives of Gen Z-ers you know?
Parents, teachers and, yes, teens themselves talk about screentime, connecting, and more
In a recent Washington Post series exploring the world of Gen Z — the latest generation of teens and pre-teens to follow millennials — we asked for your thoughts on the changing world of teenage interaction. The stories started a conversation about phones, screens, apps and more — and the role these same pieces of technology play in shaping teenagers’ social lives and understanding of human interaction.
Readers shared their own thoughts in the comments, with many teachers and parents — and yes, Gen Z-ers themselves — discussing the advantages and disadvantages of living in an ever-more-connected world; the only world that today’s teenagers know. In a childhood bombarded with constant upgrades, intense pressure and escalating screen time, how is today’s generation of teens supposed to cope?
Read the feedback below, and comment on the bottom with your own thoughts: How has technology affected the lives of the Gen Z-ers you know?
“I could argue that access to technology is even more important to combat isolation.”
Let’s consider the landscape just an hour or so outside of the city. After working with youth-based public health initiatives that serve mostly rural areas, I could argue that access to technology is even more important to combat isolation. There are no city buses, no library within walking distance. Often, students can’t even stay late at school, because the bus only runs once, and it’s an hour’s ride home. But even those who can afford smartphones and home internet still can’t always access it. There’s no paying for wireless if it isn’t offered. Funding for high-speed internet access to rural areas has been squandered, and cell phone companies don’t prioritize small pockets deep in the hollows.
With coal on the way out and drugs on the way in, the only hope these kids have is to connect with the “outside” world. They just need the tools to do it. — Emma J. Thompson, 31, Charleston, W.V.
“The kids I knew in high school are so immune to the “scandal” of nudes that they forget the human implications of violating someone’s body, something the violated person can’t get back even after the picture is deleted.”
I am technically a Gen Z-er myself, meaning I have seen stories like this one throughout my high school years. I can still remember the shock I felt when I first saw a picture of a junior boy with his tongue out, taking a selfie with an underaged girl, his hand only partially covering her breast. His ex-girlfriend had tweeted it out as proof of his cheating ways, unaware of the crime she was committing — distribution of child pornography. The strangest thing about it: none of her followers were freaking out or telling her to take it down. The responses were mostly cry-laughing emojis and “wow, what an idiot,” referring to the ex-boyfriend. No one said, “You’re violating someone by sharing this,” or “Have you thought about how terrible this might make the girl in the photo feel?” The kids I knew in high school are so immune to the “scandal” of nudes that they forget the human implications of violating someone’s body, something the violated person can’t get back even after the picture is deleted. Empathy is missing from the conversation, and that scares me more than the idea of a teen girl sending a boy pictures of her boobs. Sexting is the reality of our world. Apathy for others’ feelings does not have to be. — Haley Samsel, 19, Plano, Tex.
“What I find the most stunning is how they feel it’s real. They feel the relationships they have online are real.”
I’m a millennial, actually, but I work with Gen z-ers. I taught high school for five years and now train leaders in how to help Gen Z-ers. It’s a different world, even from mine. Cell phones weren’t a big thing when I was a teen/young adult (and they certainly weren’t smart phones!) but I still got wrapped up in the online world- spending hours watching porn and cybering (chat room sex- so 90s). I started an online relationship via chat room with a guy and eventually sent him my pictures. One of the biggest regrets of my life.
Now, I work with Gen Z-ers, with specific emphasis on girls who are wrapped up in online relationships or sexting. What I find the most stunning is how they feel it’s real. They feel the relationships they have online are real. They are drawn to them more than relationships in real life- even friendships! Take away their tech and it’s like you’ve locked them in a room with no human interaction.
My brother, who is four years younger, is really into gaming. He wasn’t interacting with the family so my mom threatened to kick him out. He said, “That’s fine! Whatever! My friends online will help me. I’ll just go live with them!” He let his online friends know that his mom was kicking him out and asked if he could crash at one of their places and they all said no. That’s when it dawned on him: “These people aren’t really friends.” For all we know they weren’t really real. — Jessica Harris, 30, Washington D.C.
“We often speak with pride on their innate knowledge of how to use technology and make it work for them. But we don’t counter this with life’s wisdom of how every keystroke counts and is stored somewhere and may be irretrievable.”
Technology is an essential part of life today and will become even more seamless and ubiquitous in the future. Even very young children inherently understand this as the way it is. We often speak with pride on their innate knowledge of how to use technology and make it work for them. But we don’t counter this with life’s wisdom of how every keystroke counts and is stored somewhere and may be irretrievable. They need to grasp the fundamentals of personal privacy and the damage that can be done to them now and in the future by what they “publish” often just by being in the wrong place at the wrong time with identifying technology. There is no such thing in today’s world as “confidential.” These truths are not self-evident nor are they easy for anyone to understand. This does not make technology evil, but always ahead of our ability to control it. — Susan Harvey, 62, Huntington, NY
“The notion that we must post every tiny detail of our lives to be cool is being driven by mass marketers getting as much free data so they can better sell us stuff.”
With Gen Z, I have seen too many kids and young adults (13–18) put in situations that they were not prepared for because of too much access to technology. Coupled with their parents lack of adulthood training, their lives meld into what mass marketers tell them it should be. Dating in middle school and a camera phone before 18, not in my house. Social media has single handedly done more to destroy the better part of two generations now than just about anything I have seen in my life. The notion that we must post every tiny detail of our lives to be cool is being driven by mass marketers getting as much free data so they can better sell us stuff.
Gen Z does not seem to have clear lines between the virtual and real world and for them, actions seem to never have consequences. — Sierra Morgan, 51, Lansing, Mi.
“I have no way to monitor every interaction.”
My 10-year-old already has searches of “girls in bikinis” and “girls in bras” in his tablet search history. He can easily (and privately) find things I could not at that age. We have talked about what is healthy and appropriate to see at his age. We talk about respecting a person’s feelings and privacy, but I do worry because I have no way to monitor every interaction. I had a few lingerie pics torn from a catalog. He has the world. — Earl B., 42, Washington, D.C.
Julia Carpenter is an embedded social media editor at The Washington Post.
