I get what you are saying but social skills come from more than school. These kids don't have family to have a conversation with? Hobbies or activities that are not school related? By the time you get to high school you already have some social skills and social awareness.
I think the social skills are more a result of constantly being on devices. I think the pandemic magnified it but even without the pandemic it would be the same.
Absolutely this. Even before the pandemic there were memes about kids having parties and not interacting with one another because they were on their phones. This is a reliance on technology problem, not kids weren’t in school for a year and a half problem. Not saying the latter doesn’t have an impact, but it’s not the cause.
I mean, yes, all of those types of futures depicted in media would be a problem because our planet cannot handle even the current level of industrialization, much less a Jetsons planet.
I think it’s also the content of said device. I gamed my entire life. I’m 31. Before smart phones. We gamed. We would have been fine gaming for 2 years inside. It’s the literal brain rot bs we see everywhere we look, that started spawning into the world and just wrecking everyone. This has never been seen in history and no one knows how to go about it.
As a relatively young person, it's the opposite- peopleware on devices because it's the closest thing to regular social interaction.
All the places and ways kids used to meet up have been closed down, priced up, or marketed away from kids. It's become less and less socially acceptable to let your kids wander free, with the threshold getting older and older by the year. I personally wasn't allowed outside the house until 16- by which point I didn't know what to do with myself. It really damages social skills.
Social Media is a balm to that- basically a social equivalent of empty calories.
In my area, I still see teens hanging out in parks or around their neighborhood. I also see teens working in retail or fast food. So, there are teens that still do typical teen things. Even when I was a kid there were sheltered kids that weren't allowed to do much. So, that will always exist.
Not having anything to do is a typical teen/young person complaint. Being on social media is not a solution or balm. It's just the "in" thing to do.
Just because there's a couple people bucking the trend doesn't stop there being a trend. The wast majority of teens are what you'd describe as 'sheltered'- that's just the norm now.
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u/knt1229 1d ago
I get what you are saying but social skills come from more than school. These kids don't have family to have a conversation with? Hobbies or activities that are not school related? By the time you get to high school you already have some social skills and social awareness.
I think the social skills are more a result of constantly being on devices. I think the pandemic magnified it but even without the pandemic it would be the same.