The student news site of El Camino College

El Camino College The Union

The student news site of El Camino College

El Camino College The Union

The student news site of El Camino College

El Camino College The Union

The wild west of the internet

Communication is key in almost any relationship. Especially in the day and age we live in it’s almost impossible not to stay connected.

From cell phones, tablets, laptops and now even smart watches people are in constant communication with each other whether it’s through text messages, FaceTime, Twitter, Facebook or Instagram.

Today, people can express what they’re feeling in a instant. Someone can air out their thoughts on a topic and have it posted online for the world to see in less than five minutes.

People care about likes, retweets, followers and want to be trending. What bothers me though is that a lot people will do almost anything to achieve these goals.

It’s often children and teenagers who do this the most.

Every generation is learning to use these devices at a younger age every year. According to a study reported by USA Today, 97 percent of kids has used a mobile device before their first birthday.

That statistic alone is crazy. My first device I had as a kid was a GameBoy Pocket and I didn’t even receive that until I was five. On top of that my GameBoy didn’t have Internet access.

Nowadays, kids are exposed to violence, sex and other adult content at a younger age than any generation before.

Not only that, but people are just rude online.

This new tech age is a dog-eat-dog world where your whole life can be put under a microscope. Just ask rapper Kanye West, who is always trending online because of some crazy thing he does.

People are always looking for someone to mess up and make a meme about them, and it only takes a matter of minutes.

On the other hand though, the power of the Internet can make people famous overnight.

Lets face it, people want to be famous, or strive to be known for something; it’s human nature to want to be validated by the masses and our peers.

That drive to be a superstar makes people resort to all kinds of stuff. Memes and vines are an example but let’s take it to the extreme side.

Kim Kardashian. How is she famous?

Because of a sex tape. Not because she contributed something relevant to society but because of the way she flaunted her body. She is one the most searched people on Google.

The sad thing is now you have young children looking up to her and other celebrities trying to imitate them. Children want to be older faster and you can see that in the way they’re dressing.

You see 14-year-olds on Instagram that look like they’re 21 now and it’s absolutely absurd to see them in high heels with little to no clothing on.

It’s starting to become normal now, I mean for crying out loud you have a dating application for children called Kinder.

It’s nice to have all this technology around, but it’s made the internet a very hostile environment, especially for kids.

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