Fallon Long (Edison): The MySpace Generation

Throughout time, there has always been a rather simple method by which adolescents have formed and maintained friendships. They have developed relationships with the individuals they are exposed to through schooling, employment, and social networking. The friendships and romantic relationships that developed this way have traditionally taken an investment of time, a discovery of mutual interests, and a commitment of loyalty to maintain. Fast forward to today – the 21^st century: young adults are still meeting friends and love interests in these traditional situations, but now there is an added layer of communicative ability that appeals to the need for immediate gratification. Social networking websites, such as Facebook.com and MySpace.com, and cellular text-messaging have allowed adolescents to develop relationships with little investment of time and minimal effort in the form of emotional risk-taking. This has caused a ripple effect in the ability of this generation to form lasting relationships with others and to communicate effectively in cooperating with a group of their peers. Society itself is also feeling the negative side-effects of these attempts to “connect” our world community.

One of the biggest effects that social networking websites and text-messaging have on the adolescent community is the damage it is doing to the relationships being established. It is now faster to make friends and build bonds than at any other time in history. However, due to the “fast” nature of these friendships, “relationships and friendships can be formed and destroyed quickly and easily” (Smith, par.3). Little more than a click of the mouse is required to end a friendship and the necessity of problem-solving and the ability to settle disagreement is now void. Communication has been reduced to the casually written word; the ability to recognize the meaning behind a change in tone-of-voice or body language has faded into the peripheral of human interaction. Nonverbal communication has been reduced to a selection of font color and the intermittent use of capital letters. In the same article quoted above, “Facebook and MySpace generation ‘cannot form relationships’ by Rebecca Smith, the claim of “an expert” is identified as the assurance that the result of these new defects in human interaction will result in an “increased risk of behaving impulsively” (par. 1). Commitment is now a thing of the past, and with divorce rates as prominent as they already are in the older generation, the MySpace youth doesn’t stand a chance in maintaining long-term relationships; they will be too quick to pull the plug at the first sign of complication due to this increased risk of impulsive activity.

*Smith, Rebecca. “Facebook and MySpace generation ‘cannot form relationships’. 10 Nov 2008. 11 February 2009. <http://telegraph.co.uk>

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