Has Social media/constant access to electronics lobotomized the younger generations?

[Darth Executor]

This isn't a partisan question. I used to be on the extreme end of introversion. Now that I've gone back to school, I'm basically average. Most of these kids have no friends and don't seem to interact at all with each other in real life. I know they still have personalities inside their skulls somewhere because of coronavirus increasing the use of online group discussions in my classes but they are absolutely inept at any live or real life interaction.

A lot of real life violence/antisocial behavior associated with left/right wing TERRORISM is actually just young people acting in real life like I do online, or parroting bad actors they saw on youtube (where other clueless teenagers tell them what to think, like wannabe prophets) because they don't know any better.

[Starlight]

TERRORISM is actually just young people acting in real life like I do online

Well at least you're self-aware.

Perhaps there's a more general case to be made that with people spending more of their time at computers that there's less interpersonal interaction in our societies than there used to be with the result that people in general are getting worse at those skills (while getting better at others).

But I think it's important to avoid the common old-foggie assumption that kids these days are so much worse at X than they were 'back in my day'. Usually the data shows the opposite whenever I can be bothered to fact check those sort of claims when I see them thrown around in this forum.

[One Bad Pig]

Constant communication via social media certainly doesn't help develop face to face communication much. Today's small families don't help that either.

[Darth Executor]

Well at least you're self-aware.

Perhaps there's a more general case to be made that with people spending more of their time at computers that there's less interpersonal interaction in our societies than there used to be with the result that people in general are getting worse at those skills (while getting better at others).

But I think it's important to avoid the common old-foggie assumption that kids these days are so much worse at X than they were 'back in my day'. Usually the data shows the opposite whenever I can be bothered to fact check those sort of claims when I see them thrown around in this forum.

Feel free to not post here at all if contributing anything of substance is such an enormous effort.

[KingsGambit]

Social intelligence is a real thing, so I'd say spot on.

[Mountain Man]

Social intelligence is a real thing, so I'd say spot on.

It's ironic that we live in the information age, yet people seem more ignorant and uninformed than ever. They don't bother to learn how to research or think critically because "I can just Google it."

[Gondwanaland]

It's ironic that we live in the information age, yet people seem more ignorant and uninformed than ever.

My parents thought the same about my generation too. That means you're an old man like me, our generation gettingbready to pass the torch and worrying about it.

They don't bother to learn how to research or think critically because "I can just Google it."

I.... don't entirely view that as a bad thing. And most kids these days can do the same amount of research via the internet in a couple hours that would have taken me weeks back in the 80s, and probably get even more info out of it. Honestly I think the issue is the older crowd around my age, who tend to consumebunthinkingly and listen to whatever pops in their Facebook feed (I rarely use Facebook now because of that).

[Mountain Man]

My parents thought the same about my generation too. That means you're an old man like me, our generation gettingbready to pass the torch and worrying about it.


I.... don't entirely view that as a bad thing. And most kids these days can do the same amount of research via the internet in a couple hours that would have taken me weeks back in the 80s, and probably get even more info out of it. Honestly I think the issue is the older crowd around my age, who tend to consumebunthinkingly and listen to whatever pops in their Facebook feed (I rarely use Facebook now because of that).

I wasn't talking about just the younger generation. A lot today's adults seem to have lost the ability to critically assess information and arrive at reasoned conclusions.

One of the most stark example was when my liberal coworkers were laughing about people who were dumb enough to believe fake news, and then one of them said without a hint of irony, "Hey, did you hear about Trump saying we should use nuclear bombs to stop hurricanes?" and they all started soberly nodding their heads in agreement. I said, "Uh, guys, you do realize that never happened. It's fake news," and they all looked at me blankly.