"The New Generation... *sigh"

This weekend, I am in Shenzhen at Shen Wai International School for their Model United Nations conference and my school has came with our MUN Director, who is a science teacher at our school and as my friend and I were talking to him, he started to talk about how in his generation, his peers used to talk to each other during their break times while nowadays, we just go on our devices by default. I do recognize this change and this may seem like a negative change but perhaps talking to others is becoming less and less necessary?

Teens nowadays reach to social media and their devices by default--it is like all their preferences and sources of information live there. I will not lie, this is also me, as Red Note and WeChat are my best friends. However, this source of entertainment is not my only source, I also have other things that make me happy, but the fact that my peers and I spend so much time on those devices and social media may be concerning. The turning point is however, that we bond over the content that we like and see on social media, which in turn strengthens interpersonal connection and communication, which are the two main concerns that arise with the increased use of social media and devices.

The teacher I was talking to mentioned that he does have social media, making it evident that social media and devices are necessary for daily life nowadays, due to the mass amount of information spread on social media and other sources. He admits that he does go on them everyday, just that he does not spend so much time on it, showing how it is necessary, but balance is essential to maintain interpersonal relationships. Can one be happy just from spending time on social media? Yes. If they are influencers and the vast majority of their friends are influencers, and they bring joy to the person, it is vital to the person's life and I believe it should not be perceived as negative. However, if one does not find joy and satisfaction from the online world, of course they should do their best to avoid their source of dissatisfaction. The essence of the issue is not about happiness however, although that is how I like to think about it, but it is more about our awareness of the physical world around us, also known as reality. We still depend on our bodies in the physical world to do anything we would want, which makes it necessary to be aware of the environment around us. But let’s imagine a world where everyone is just walking around on their devices talking to each other virtually, and that we are all making connections but just not on the platform that may bring more long lasting memories. However, this may get to the point where we are friends with someone so well virtually that we would want to meet them in person, which is an indication that it is still important for us to value real connections with each other. Sometimes, we do not understand the importance of “real connections” until we find the weight of it.