Growing up online

The internet is but a tool in man’s arsenal, comprised of various ancient and modern gimmicks. And like any other tool, it is intrinsically neither good nor bad. The nature of any consequence brought about by the tool depends entirely on the wielder and how they wield it.

 

We belong to a generation that witnessed the rise of the internet growing up, and its subsequent integration into man’s life to the point of a necessity by the time we became young adults. As such, one may argue that we are a generation that ‘grew up with the internet’. But the internet wasn’t as ingrained in people’s lives back then, so we did some of our growing up online and some offline. The previous generations did not get to experience growing up online and the future ones will not get to grow up offline. Lucky us!

 

Advantages & Disadvantages

There are two (opposite) sides to every coin, and when one side is facing up the other is faced down. Life is quite ironic, the very things that drive us forward on one front tend to hold us back on others.

The internet is a marvelous tool of boundless utility and numerous applications. Growing up online has enhanced many attributes of our growth while causing certain deficiencies in many of the same aspects it supplemented.

We’ll take a look at some of these aspects and see how growing up online is both a gift and a curse

 

1.     Communication

Growing up online has been really great if we talk about communicating, because it has become easy and fun to communicate with other people. We can keep in touch with our peers and never lose that sense of connection (unless one of the parties wishes to). With social media and instant messaging, we are always (somewhat) aware of what's going on in people’s lives even when we’re not actually talking.

We also have the opportunity to converse with and get to know people from different walks of life, from around the globe. Which can be quite good as it broadens our networks and helps form connections that might be healthy and useful.

The downside here is that we often get so comfortable communicating online that we shy away from or get anxious about communicating in person. Which may lead to underdeveloped social skill and that can only make life harder and make you even more anxious about personal communication.

 

 

2.     Relationships

We already talked about meeting different people online. Many of the people tend to go away on their own eventually but some of them, we can grow quite close to.

When I say relationships, I don’t just mean romantic ones. Growing up online gives you the opportunity to make a lot of friends that might share the same interests and hobbies, which is really important for your mental well-being. You have someone to talk to, who understands, and is interested in what you have to say and you don’t feel isolated.

The only downsides here are that this can lead you to spend too much time on your online relationships and neglect the ones in the real world, like your family and other people in your immediate vicinity.

 

3.     Information

Have you ever thought about how effortless our access to information has become? It is now easier and more convenient for us to find something out than in any other time in human history. Hundreds of millions of texts to be read, pictures to seen, and videos to be watched available at the click of a button (or tap of a screen). The amount and diversity of information available to us really is astonishing. And many people have made excellent use of this information.

Growing up online has made it easier to for one to grow what they know, and grow in a personal and professional capacity.

But one must be aware that this ocean of information is vast and full of illusions, and predators, which make it very easy for you to lose your way. A lot of the information available online is either false or very easy to misinterpret and a simpler mind cannot always spot the difference. Many people/organizations run online scams that can bring upon you varying degrees of harm. So one must be cautious while surfing the worldwide web.

All of this I have learned growing up online.

 

4.     Cultural Exposure

Going online gives one access to content from around the world which exposes them to different cultures and various ways of life. The content available to us on our local media (print, radio, and TV) is somewhat restricted and doesn’t allow adequate exposure to global diversity. Witnessing all that the world has to offer can be quite influential on a growing mind. Seeing things in new and different ways can help broaden one’s perspective making them more accepting of other people and their way of doing things. Being more understanding and accepting leads one to paths they would never have tread otherwise and brings forth many new chances and opportunities.

Many of our cultural values and traditions are very antihumanitarian to say the least. Seeing things in a different light makes one think about, and analyze their own ways, which in turn births a desire for change of unhealthy practices. The key here is to think and analyze both your own ways and the ways of others before deciding what to adopt and what to abandon.

Unfortunately, some of us are unable to cope with this exposure in moderation, they either are too critical of the ways of some other culture or are completely seduced by it, both of which lead them to live a life handicapped by their beliefs (which is nothing against them, we all live our lives bound by our beliefs).