The Main Question: What happens to chronically online youth?

     

    Upon reflection of my previous blog-post, I realized every issue I pointed out within the Gen Z [and even millennial/boomer] community stems from the same source. That source being, people who are chronically online. Therefore, my main question will be:

"What is happening to the chronically online youth?".

    Calling people chronically online refers to "those who spend so much time online it skews their sense of reality and hinders their ability to effectively communicate about topics like politics or social justice because they lack real-world experience".  In other words, their entire belief system was brainwashed into them by the internet. 

    The reason I picked this subject is because I've noticed a regression among people in my age group. By regression I mean, behaviors in 2022 and on-wards are starting to mirror life 1965 and prior. 

• Young people of color, a community I also belong with, insist on having white-free zones. (Basically re-segregation)
  
• Gen z has associated religion with bigotry and thus will chastise believers (Violates the idea of religious freedom despite advocating for tolerance.)
  
• Gen z  is likely to use slurs within their racial-groups or against white [white passing] people (perpetuating acts of racism in the name of "reclaiming" words)
• Gen z has an increased likelihood of changing vocabulary/history to fit narratives (attempts of removing the whitewashing lens of history // no different than burning books)  
• [vocabulary: exhibit: B]
  

 

    From my perspective, none of these patterns are that big of a deal yet. The odds of having one of these interactions online is far greater than in real life, however, they do happen. Obviously, Gen z being so young means that they are in a point in their life where they are extremely impressionable. That is why I feel it's better to warn people about spending too much time on the internet before these biased ideals spread further.

    Looking forward, I believe I'm going to be reliant on a mix of my personal experience within the community and relevant sources online. I wouldn't want my work to be completely anecdotal, so I'll look for research papers, surveys, and academic papers that expand on my ideas. It would also probably be helpful to look into psychological explanations for what is happening to gen z, aside from group think. (as mentioned in the previous post.) 

Logging on to tiktok