Children and unlimited internet access
I've been thinking about this a lot lately. I know that the things I'm describing have been present in other generations going back, but I want to talk about how extensive and infinite these behaviours are now with the presence of the internet.
I really do believe that access to the internet from an early age is socializing children to trust in trends over their families' belief systems or even discovering their own. When somewhere on the internet, a whole community will support you, right or wrong, it makes you feel powerful and right. It allows children to push moral limits and have the audacity to hurt people and themselves. I truly believe the sheer apathy we see now in younger generations is because of this. At what point can you determine that someone's entire being; personality, style, opinions, etc., is stolen purely from apps and social media. The digital world is extremely saturated and persuasive to a childs mind and when they function like sponges its not hard to see them feed into whats popular or trendy even if it is a detrement to them or others. And YES bullying is "trendy" and "popular" behaviour; "I have what everyone wants and you don't so you're less than me." Culture like that promotes classism and entitlement as they grow up. Children should NOT be given unrestricted access to the internet.