All of the typical arguments against the use of technology in today's youth are uninformed and biased. As a youth engrossed in society, it is easy to see technology only affects you if you allow it. However, over-generalization of an entire generation serves no purpose other than being naive to the real issues.
They lack social skills.
While some would argue social skills are dwindling among the youth as we delve further and further into technology, in some capacity they are increasing. In a world where written communication is more important than ever, texting "lol" proves to have an enormous impact. As a result of exposure to technology written communication skills are increasing dramatically.
A lot of the problem with saying youths lack social skills because of technology is that you're identifying a single cause for a diverse issue. Rates of anxiety and depression are higher among youth today than they have ever been. Social anxiety is an enormous cause for lacking social skills. These problems are mental health issues. They have less to do with being on a phone and more to do with chemical imbalances in the brains of teenagers. By blaming a single medium of entertainment and communication, it diminishes awareness of these legitimate mental problems.
They lack empathy.
Bullies have been around since the dawn of time. Now people have a new medium with which to harass people. It is more rampant because technology makes it easier. The idea of "hiding behind a screen" is as old as computers themselves. It is not the fault of the technology that people are bullies. It's easy for a parent to see their child, who has digitally harassed someone, and blame the phone or the computer. It's easier to place blame than to take responsibility. Schools often now need to have social media policies to hold students accountable for cyberbullying. If discipline is lacking, a child has the potential to act out.
Because people want to show the best of themselves on social media, you don't often get to see the negative aspects of everyone's life. In a generation that demanded to perform, technology and social media was the clear result. Only seeing exposure of everyone's good side can lead to the aforementioned depression and anxiety. However, this is not a reason to argue teens lack empathy.
They don't know anything.
Be honest — have you ever heard someone accuse young people of being stupid and ignorant because they could just google it instead of having a comprehensive knowledge of it?
Many teenagers don't know how to change a tire, but will have resources to find out how. Retention of information isn't a valuable skill anymore. Millennials have been taught this through school and it is now reinforced through technology. For example, you take a test in english class on a book you read and forget all the details immediately after. Your teacher claims you will need to know this in the future, but you don't. You live just fine having omitted that information from your memory.
Technology allows us to live in the same way. You keep the information you know you need. Information that isn't documented throughout the internet such as your relationships with your friends and family, the people you care about. Retention of something you can simply look up seems useless, and in a sense, it is. Why on earth do I need to memorize how to change a tire if I can look it up and know how in a matter of minutes?
This has also given millennials a valuable and often overlooked skill — rapid skill acquisition. We are able to be completely ignorant to a topic and then learn how to be a novice in a matter of minutes. To many people who are older this is an insane idea. There can be trained professionals you call out to solve a problem that take days and charge money when a millennial with a simple youtube tutorial could've done it quickly and easily. It's one of the most useful skills one can have and youths are developing it as a generation on a worldwide scale.
Young people are also smarter and more politically aware than ever. The high school graduation rate is the highest its ever been. Millennials are projected to become the most educated generation of youth ever. So they do know something, quite a lot, actually.
Technology is not ruining the lives of youth around the world. We are projected to be the most educated and influential of all time. While it is true that millennials often lack social skills, it is the fault of our high preforming society giving them social anxiety and depression and cannot be simply chalked up to technology. All the arguments against use of technology just prove to be uninformed and over generalizing.
In the end, thank your local 18-25 year old the next time they hook up your router. They might be stuck on their phones all the time, but they are more credible and creative than you may know.
