Being born in the fabulous 1990's has granted me the advantage of growing up around technology and online/social media. Now that I am 23, I can honestly say the internet has been around since I was born, and all things internet related are not good. Here are the 5 things I believe the internet/social media ruined for my generation.
1. Communication
Before everyone started instant messaging, we actually had to be creative in communication and conversation. During school, we would pass notes around to communicate, or simply walk up to the person and hold a conversation. Today, you may never see kids in a classroom talk and engage in conversation, but their mentions and messaging inbox would be full! Creating a gap in human to human interaction.
2. Manners/respect
Does the term "do it for the vine" mean anything to you? although it is a harmless term, there can be a deeper meaning. Many people, young and old are now doing any, and everything for 8 seconds of fame online. People are cursing out their parents, throwing trash at elders, and fighting with no one to break it up. It is rare to find someone displaying respect online, compared to seeing something harsh for laughs. Being popular on the internet has created this idea that everything you do on camera is okay, long as it is for "likes" or "retweets".
3. The club scene/concerts
It is okay to go out and have fun responsibly, people have done it for years. Growing up, personally, I thought the club was the best invention ever, the club goers always made it seem so fun. Once I became of age and went to a club I soon realized that everyone was looking down on their phone instead of just enjoying the night. Same for concerts. Seeing your favorite artist in concert should be a treat and a once in a lifetime experience, especially for the price of admission, now the best thing to do is YouTube your favorite artist in concert and feel like you are there. Today you can also look on "Snapchat" and see the whole concert for free. Being there in person, of course, would be great, but if you are recording it from a cell phone and sharing it online that would take away from the surprise element of the show. Just imagine a world where you could see a Michael Jackson concert before he even came to your town?
4. Love
Yes, believe it or not, the internet has merely ruined everyone's perception of love. The saying "relationship goals" has taken over the brains of millions of people. Nobody can be their self and get accepted for being that because there are so many different outside sources telling you what a healthy relationship or love should look and feel like. Most times over the internet you will see a photo with two people (usually models) holding hands or kissing with a deep quote attached to the photo. That picture and quote then becomes everyone's fairy tale love story, ignoring the fact that you actually have to get off of the internet to create and build love. Love can be found in mysterious places, but our grandparents didn't have that growing up, they found love in each other by not giving up and ignoring what other people had in their relationships. Would we be here if our grandparents had "relationship goals"?
5. Shoes/sneakers
This might go over some peoples head, but there is a community of sneakerheads who whole heartily agree with me when I say that the internet ruined the shoe game. Once upon a time, when a new pair of Michael Jordan shoes came out you could go to the store and pick them up with no line, no extra cost, typically pain-free. The internet created an extra hype around sneakers that most people a few years ago didn't even care about. Today it is almost as difficult to get new shoes as it is to get health insurance. Today, if you want to get a new pair of popular shoes in the store, there are many steps. You have to call or visit the store, and get a raffle ticket for the shoe in your size, after that you have to wait until your name is drawn in the raffle(if you get lucky) and receive a phone call saying you were selected to win that pair. Next, if you get lucky, you have one day, typically a Saturday you will be granted a two-hour period to come and get your shoe which cost about 250$ or someone else can claim your prize. People are even going as far as camping outside of malls and shoe stores to ensure a spot at the front of the line just to resale the shoes for a higher amount on the internet for the people who couldn't get them. This leaves very little room for error or plans to do anything else for a whole week.
Don't let the internet ruin these things for you!
