| When the computers at a school in Lake Oswego, | | | | computer, music and TV (and that doesn't even |
| Oregon, had to be turned off for four days | | | | take into account cell phones). If you multiply that |
| because of a virus, students were bewildered | | | | out, it's about 30 hours per week. that's more |
| about how to address a snail mail envelope. These | | | | than some part time jobs. So, what aren't they |
| tech-savvy students could email, text, web | | | | doing when they're plugged in six hours per day? |
| browse, MySpace, and Google with great skill, but | | | | At home, my own teenaged son has the same |
| when the system went down, both students and | | | | issues. Armed with a laptop and a cell phone, he is |
| teachers realized that technology is no longer a | | | | in constant contact with every person he has |
| luxury, but a necessity-perhaps a necessity that | | | | ever met online, pretty much every minute we're |
| serves to separate us rather than bring us | | | | not forcing him to do something else. When I |
| together. | | | | pointed out to him that he's putting in the time |
| Perhaps the best place to see this phenomenon | | | | equivalent to a 30-hour-per-week job on his |
| first hand is on a high school campus, which is, | | | | electronic socializing, he responded that it was a |
| conveniently, where I spend most of my day. | | | | good use of his time. It take precedence over |
| Students are literally addicted to their technology, | | | | homework, family time, hobbies, or just general |
| as evidenced by the fact that when our school | | | | thinking about the world. With that much time tied |
| instituted a policy this year to ban all iPods, cell | | | | up, how can kids take the time to simply consider |
| phones and electronics except for during lunch, | | | | what they want to do in the world, or who they |
| the outcry was far more passionate than for any | | | | are in relation to everyone and everything else? |
| other school rule in memory. Students nearly | | | | This electronic divide also keeps kids separated |
| came to blows with teachers and supervisors | | | | from the adults in their lives to a large degree. |
| who confiscated their electronics, acting like | | | | Although I have a MySpace and a website and a |
| junkies who can't be separated from their "fix." | | | | cell phone, I use these as tools, not as the prime |
| Students will text message friends rather than | | | | focus of my everyday activity. Kids who spend |
| meet up with them. Cell phone cameras have | | | | hours per day on MySpace become enamored of |
| taken the place of actually describing what you | | | | the fact that they can post even the most |
| see to your friends. Face-to-face conversation is | | | | mundane details of their lives for all to see. I |
| awkward, and even when students are together, | | | | argue with my son every time I ask him to sign |
| they fall into "text speak", that is, using terms like | | | | off because he has to post a bulletin telling |
| "lol" or "idk" or "bff" instead of whole words. (For | | | | everyone he's signing off. When I point out that |
| non-texters, that's "laugh out loud", "I don't know" | | | | they'll probably figure it out when he doesn't reply, |
| and "best friends forever.") It even creeps into | | | | he just rolls his eyes. I couldn't possibly |
| their schoolwork; I always receive essays that | | | | understand. |
| are rife with abbreviations like "2" instead of too, | | | | The web presence of young people has given |
| or "u" instead of "you." This generation has taken | | | | them two things: a sense of anonymity that |
| shortcuts where very form of communication is | | | | shields them, and a sense of importance that is |
| concerned, and it shows in their lack of | | | | overblown. They can (and do) broadcast every |
| connectedness to real life. | | | | impulse, every thought, every feeling, via the |
| According to a survey conducted by the Pew | | | | internet. As a teenager, I might have felt like |
| Internet and American Life Project, 55 percent of | | | | slapping someone, but I kept it to myself. Now, it |
| online teens use social networks. 82 percent of | | | | becomes a post broadcast to hundreds of friends |
| those surveyed say they use online social | | | | for all to see. Older teens who drink and do other |
| networks to stay in touch with friends they don't | | | | dangerous behaviors post pictures of themselves |
| see a lot, which means the only interaction they | | | | chugging beer, smoking, throwing gang signs. It |
| may have with those friends is via pixels and | | | | feels separate, not real; they figure no adult will |
| posts. Twenty-eight percent of those who have | | | | ever see it, so it doesn't matter. What they don't |
| online sites check them once a day or more. | | | | realize is that, like a tattoo, making a mark in |
| Ninety three percent of teens use the internet. | | | | cyberspace is often forever. There have been |
| Sixty eight percent of online teens own cell | | | | many stories of young people applying for jobs or |
| phones and use them to text. | | | | college only to find that their future employers or |
| Kaiser Family Foundation in 2005 study found that | | | | schools track them through the internet, discover |
| kids 12-17 spend more than six hours per day | | | | their youthful indiscretions, and pass on them. |
| using media, whether that's movies, video games, | | | | |