Although Sebastian River High School teacher Whitney Jones is only a decade out of high school herself, she sees technology impacting her 10th and 11th grade students far more than it did her own teen years.
In most respects, being a teenager today isn’t much different than it has been for decades. “School bugs me and I like to watch TV. I love my parents but I’m ready to move out and be on my own, and sometimes I think I know everything,” says a soon-to-graduate Saint Edward’s School teen we’ll fictitiously call “Liza.” The only major thematic difference between now and then is technology. Like many of her peers, Liza uses her cell phone to text friends between classes and over her lunch period and by night chats on Facebook. School papers are written with the aid of Google and Wikipedia.
Liza is the prototypical teen of the Internet age, bringing with it big wins and a few worries. Her circle of friends is vast in number and geography, including regular communication with summer camp roommates in Mexico, South America, Europe and New York. Information on any topic is available fast, at any hour. The “Dark Ages” of childhood were when a dial-up connection prevented using telephone and Internet simultaneously.
Read the entire article in the September/October 2012 issue
True Tails is a series written by Amy Robinson for Vero Beach’s dog lovers. Ask Amy about your dog’s behavior by clicking below.
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