TEEN ESSAY: Is Facebook Generation the Loneliest Generation?

<p>Each previous generation has been categorized under some sort of theme: The Jazz Age, the Hippie Generation, the Baby Boomer Generation, the Rock 'n' Roll Music Generation and even the 9/11 or Echo Boomers Generation. All of these different names came from an event or idea that took place and impacted the time period of each individual generation. For this reason, it is no surprise that our generation has been referred to as the Facebook Generation.</p><p>We have been equipped with modern-day technology that no longer requires us to write long, sophisticated letters to one another when a person can just simply text, IM, email, or even Skype in a more efficient amount of time. Needless to say, communicating with a friend from either across the room or across the world has now become fairly quick and easy.</p><p>However, it is not only our communication skills that have been altered by the effects of modern technology but also our social status among our real and cyber friends that has notably changed due to the glorious creation of Facebook.</p><p>Facebook isn't like many other social websites. It wasn't created as a tool for communicating with one another. Instead, it was created for the mere purpose of knowing what our peers were doing. It was formatted in a way that we can gain this oh-so-interesting knowledge without needing to have an actual conversation with that person.</p><p>At first, this sounds like a great tool for an antisocial 28-year-old reject who lives under the basement of his parents' house to use, doesn't it? But according to the statistics that Online Schools gathered in 2011, 57 percent of people talk to people more online than they do in real life. So does that mean that the majority of us young adults aren't all too different from this 28-year-old shut-in? Perhaps not.</p><p>Teenagers can express their thoughts and feelings through a status or show their favorite picture of himself/herself through a quick upload of a photo post. However, this fun sharing tool has become a competitive field between teens on how many likes they receive. If the status does not relate to the majority of teens or isn't miraculously witty, the chance of it getting many likes isn't very high. If the recently updated profile picture or wall photo does not display an overly attractive person or of something hysterical, then again, not a lot of likes.</p><p>Although this is just a general assumption from mere observation, it is a statement that most teens would agree on. But moreover, why are Facebook likes on a teen's individual status or photo even remotely significant to the many lives of today's generation? Because Facebook likes recently have become popularity and self-esteem points. For this reason, we now invest the majority of our free time checking and rechecking our notifications. Facebook is about staying connected, yet we become so involved with this website to the point we remove ourselves from the rest of the world. So yes, we are indeed the Facebook Generation but we also are the Loneliest Generation.</p>