Is Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, etc. the New Demise or Rise of Our Children?

I have a task for you. Next time you are out walking to class, work, shopping, eating, whatever, look around at the other people walking around you. See how many of them are looking down at their phones. Now, check yourself, are you doing the same? Were you doing that at one point during your walk? If so, then you are just like everyone else and you didn't even know it. Yeah you might have pulled out your phone to check a reminder, event, a quick yes or no text message. But it doesn't matter the reason; if you did strike that pose of walking with your head down looking at your devise, then you are part of society in the same way as everyone else.
I hope you have seen the picture (or meme) where the top portion is a group of kids sitting on a bench, each looking at their phone, not engaging with the other kids. But below that is an old picture of a group of men, each reading their own newspapers, ignoring the other men around them. Are the pictures so different? Is reading an article or story from a phone much different than the newspapers guys?
Arguments could be made either way for the above question. But, what is the effect social media is having on kids today? Kids could be sitting on a bench on tehir phones, but then they see something neat, intersting, worth sharing and then they turn to another kid sitting next to them and start talking. No different than the guys with newspapers talking to one another about the newspaper articles. So how is social media different?
It boils down to the fact that kids can press one button and share that story, article, their opinion with millions of other people instantaneously. Those men couldn't share the newspaper articles with others as fast as the kids could. Having access to the internet and the ability to share anything with anyone is an amazing feature. No more having to turn to your neighbor and discussing the article on page 7, column 6 of the newspaper. Instantly, kids can share anything.
So is that ability hurting or helping our children? Me personally, it is helping. Those men with the newspaper couldn't share the story with someone on the other side of the globe in a split second. And then a few minutes later get the random person who saw the shared article to respond with their thoughts. This ability allows kids to connect to everyone and if so desire, use that ability to learn about other's viewpoints.
However, if you restrict that flow of new information and viewpoints into your feed, then you just became those old men reading the newspapers. Just like that.


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