Millennials: Growing Up With Social Media

Technology has seen huge advances and changes since its debut in 1991. Since the introduction of social media in the late 2000s, the internet has become an important aspect for billions of people worldwide. Just 30 years ago, it was uncommon-if not extremely rare-for a child to be seen with a portable mp3 player or computer. Nowadays, every child seems to have one of each. Is it necessary? I argue that it is actually terrible for their health. The constant exposure of mobile phones, tablets, and computers to children is a dangerous phenomenon that can lead to internet addiction, mental setbacks, and poor social skills. Adults who have adapted to using technology in their everyday life are now replacing their parental presence with the presence

They differ from Baby Boomers and Generation Z because they remember a more analog childhood-such as cable TV and floppy disks-while slowly transferring and adapting to technological advances, like smartphones and cloud data, as they grew up. ("Millennials: Technology = Social Connection.") Technology has affected how millennials behave from the way they form relationships to the way they interact with other individuals. Their ways of interacting have become all digital. In a study done by Kate Meyer on her article "Social Media Natives: Growing Up with Social Networking," she revealed that 90% of millennials have at least one form of social media in 2016 compared to only 55% in 2006. In a millennial's digital life, many will commence something called being Facebook Official where couples will change their relationship status on Facebook as a way of officiating their relationship and announcing it to their friends and family. Moreover, becoming friends with someone is as easy as clicking a button. If the person accepts their friend request, they are then automatically sucked in the person's life through social media and the millennial doesn't have to talk to their "Friend" to know what is happening in their life. These forms of interactions are indirect. Depending on who you ask, millennial age can range from mid 20s to early 30s or late teens to mid to late twenties. The point is that millennials are in

One powerful and extremely common way of doing this is by giving their child a mobile device-such as a tablet, phone, or laptop-to distract the child instead. This is extremely dangerous to their health. More and more children and young adults are opting out of physical social interaction in favor of their mobile device. In The Atlantic post "Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?", a young girl named Athena has admitted that she spends more time alone in her room than going out with her friends. Instead of direct socialization, she and her friends use applications ("apps") that mimic interaction such as Snapchat. How did this start? Well, her parents gave her a smartphone when she was only 11 years old. Now 13, she has grown addicted to the internet and has confessed that she likes her device than people. Because of this, her brain development is at risk due to the instant gratification nature of apps used. In addition, teenage depression and suicide has reached an all-time high! One main cause of this is cyberbullying. With children and teenagers so channeled in to the internet, the less fortunate bunch have a hard time escaping their bullies due to the pressure of being active on social media. Hartwell-Walker has stated that it's difficult to avoid rumors online because every little thing said on social media spreads fast: If Bully A said a