Tech creates a bubble for kids [USA Today]
USA Today has a long story on the effect of technology on the social mores of children and teens, particularly on their self-identity and the need for social approval.
“Raised by parents who stressed individualism and informality, young people grew up in a society that is more open and offers more choices than in their parents’ youth, says child and adolescent psychologist Dave Verhaagen of Charlotte.
Unlike their parents, they have never known anything but a world dominated by technology. Even their social lives revolve around the Web, iPods and cellphones. So they dress down, talk loose and reveal their innermost thoughts online.
“Put that all together and you’ve got a generation that doesn’t have the same concept of privacy and personal boundaries as generations before,” Verhaagen says.
“They’re tuned out in some ways to the social graces around them and the people in their lives, in their physical realm, and tuned in to the people they’re with virtually,” says psychologist and sociologist Sherry Turkle of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge.
On top of that, young people don’t care as much about making a good impression as their parents and grandparents did growing up, says Jean Twenge, an associate professor of psychology at San Diego State University.”
