Essay! iGeneration

David Harned
Prof. Brown
19 Feb, 2013
English 1B
iGeneration
Is Generation Y the Generation of I? Scholars, Authors and even musicians have debated on this issue over the last 10 years. Some have pointed out that this new generation of people being swarmed around in technology has made us more and more detached from each other rather than bringing us together. Others have said that this new media has indeed given us the opportunity to share personal information with loved ones around the world with a click of a button. The main question to hone in on is; since this generation is so tapped into technology, will we slowly lose our ability to interact with each other on a personal level?
In answering this question it is important for us to recognize the important key topics to effectively get to the right response. First off what has the internet done to actually bring us together? One important aspect to focus on in terms of this first point is Facebook and other social media companies. Social media has given this generation a unique opportunity to post, share, and bring personal information to any friend at anytime. Although this seems like a no brainer to say that the internet allows us to communicate with friends more so it actually strengthens our ability to interact with friends on a personal level, but we need to ask ourselves the question, what information are we really sharing and is it really a true personal relationship between person to person? The fact of the matter remains that we share a lot of pointless information on social media sites and the information that we post actually is slanted to ethir makes us seem cooler, or more valuable then we really are. People actually get more depressed seeing all these posts because they think that their friends are actually having a great time, all the time. One stat that was gathered by all twitter stated that, "85 percent of women are annoyed by their friends on Facebook". This constant feed of fun posts leads the person to feel like their life should be a constant life of stimulus when in reality that is unreasonable. Relating this point to our original question of, is this new wave of technology making us lose our ability to get to know each other, this fact does support the side that it indeed is making us lose our ability to accurately get to know each other but that is just looking at the internet and ending there instead of looking to what the internet prompts us to do.
The opponents of this new technology fail to see that although people cannot gain a lot of real insight from the random posts, people can meet via online interactions to then meet up in person. "One-in-six people met his or her spouse through an online dating site, falling shortly behind through work/school or through friends/family" (source sundial). This addes up to millions of people meeting through online dating sights in which people share information (slanted or not) and actually meet up in person to go out on dates and get married. Marriage is an instituion where one is going to get to know someone the most! These people would of never got to know each other with out the internet and this is a huge proponent on how the internet is actually allowing us to know each other personally at a higher rate. People who are not strong suited at picking up a friend or mate in public situations now have a home via the internet. This facilitates personal relationships and gives people a chance to get to know people from anywhere, with out having a skill for starting conversations with people they do not know. It isn't just dating sights that allow people to get groups together to meet in person but cell phones and social media as well. As we discussed before posts, pictures, and comments aren't a real great tool to get to know someone personally, but messaging people via email, texting, or social media is, but only to a certain extant. For example, someone who is off to another country can keep in touch with someone or someones that he or she met before leaving. Giving that person the opportunity to get to know that person more effectively by email, facebook, etc, without even being with in 3000 miles of that person. I do personally think that the best interactions are when a person can see the other person and actually read facial expressions. Now in this 21st century world we do not need to be in the same room to do this. Skype and other companies have allowed us to video chat people anytime all across the country and most of the world. This has to be the most damning piece of evidence into the argument of the people who think this new technology is making us lose the ability to get to know other people on a personal level. Most of the arguments consist of well its just data its not like you can see the person, get squashed by this new invention. The rise of Skype has grown rapidly in the past five years and, according to statisticbrain.com, "consist of over 31 million people." Skype has even integrated to Facebook so now one can Skype video call with any of ones Facebook friends. According to business week, "Facebook has over 1 billion users" and out of those billion, millions chatting everyday. The list of video chatting is growing as well, and with the growth of face to face interactions via the web I do think we gain more ability to know one and other. Right now we only have these programs and devices for people who can afford it at the right price, but I believe that as time goes on these tools will be second nature to us as cell phones are now. I also believe that if we were not meeting the people we interact with online in person or video messaging them then the internet would damage our ability to get to know people because one can not read emotions through a text message but through a video camera, yes, i believe one can.
This all sounds well and good but the last part that we need to delve into is which is greater? The Facebook post and pictures that make life seem like a constant stimulus which in turn is a negative onto the psyche, or the burst of new technology that unites the world.
At the end of the day we have two sides, one that figures that this new technology erupting from the birth of the internet is making it so people lose their ability to to get to know people and the other stating that this new technology has at least kept the abilities of people to get to know other people with some saying that is has even has improved people getting to know other people. We can now access any friend from any part of the whole with a phone call, a Facebook message, or even a Skype video chat. We will see later how all this new and brilliant technology serves us, maybe we will turn into the computers we cherish so much, or maybe we will be able to truly get to know other cultures, ideas, and feelings with a click of a button.



Bibliography


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