This article, “Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?” by Jean M. Twenge, was published in the Atlantic almost a year ago. Just by looking at the title, you know that the article is going to be just one more in depth read about how technology is changing the way children grow up, and not in a good way. While this article chooses to focus on smartphones in the beginning, by the end of the article the author talks about school work load, sexual activity, and drunk driving. Even though the article begins with your average discussion about kids growing up with iPhones and Snapchat, it is more like a shift in ideals more than a shift in technology. This is a perfect example of a paradigm shift.

When there was no technology like smartphones in the world, there was thought to be no need for them. As smartphones began to come into the technological world, people were skeptic, but quickly adapted them into their everyday lives. Now, some people can’t go 10 minutes without checking their phone. People would rather stay at home and interact with their phone rather than go hang out with friends or family. What this means for teens is that their lives are much different than their parents’ were in their teenage years. Growing up prior to iGen meant that getting out of the house and going to hang outs and parties was almost the only way to have fun. This resulted in higher drinking and driving accidents, along with higher teenage pregnancy rates. But if kids these days are at home on their phones instead of being out, there chance of drinking or pregnancy goes down tremendously. Even so, can we compare social interaction with the interaction we get through our phones? I say we cannot.

While I am not sure if this means that teenagers these days have a harder time creating relationships, it does mean that they chose not to more often. Even though they aren’t going out and participating in activities that aren’t the safest for them, they aren’t getting much human interaction either. So what is better? Some studies suggest that teenagers in this generation feel more depressed and alone because they or their peers aren’t socializing face to face. That was not as much of a worry when kids were getting out our their rooms and off their phones. Understandably, there are pros and cons to both sides of the argument and the way each generation grew up, but we have to recognize that the way of the past is in the past, and we have to learn how to adapt to that kind o f life with today’s technology.