re: Do you think social media has changed people (especially the youth)?

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I think the cellphone has changed people more than anything. It is such a powerful tool. People, mainly the youth, are obsessed with it and struggle to part with it for more than a couple of hours.

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I agree with this. One of the big things before cell phones was the need for social groups to have a permanent meeting place. People hung out at the same bar, restaurant, or at the mall so their friends would no where to find them. People made concrete plans because they were harder to cancel.

Now, everyone has cell phones and no land lines. They are available literally 24/7. so if they don't respond you "KNOW" that they are shunning or avoiding you. They can cancel plans at a moment's notice. Kids no longer have set meeting places because they can track each other in real time via texts and check-ins.

Taking a kid's phone away in 2017 is tantamount to taking their landline and confining them to their home back in the 80's. They are completely cut off from the infrastructure that children use to communicate and plan gatherings, often at a moment's notice. They are completely isolated. Of course they will freak out. Outside of talking to someone face to face in person, they have no means of communicating with anyone. And without their phone, they won't be able to find where their friends physically are (outside of school) in order to talk to them.

Social media and cell phones do a lot of harm, but taking them away has similar devastating consequences. You're kinda boned either way.