Is the information age ruining children's optimism?

a reply to: Profusion

Media, which the internet is part of, broadcasts doom porn 24x7x365.

Whether thats had an impact or not is going to vary from individual to individual.

I like to see life as being a pencil in the pencil sharpener. It just grinds you down to a little nub.

Why continue the illusion, or should I say delusion? Yes, it's painful, but why have children live in darkness thinking everything is "hunky dorie" only to have them grow up to be adults who think the same? It's insanity.
As far as apathy goes, it has existed for decades. That is why we're in the situation we're in. Apathy isn't some "new" trait. How many times have you heard the old saying, "Well, golly, gee, there just isn't anything we can do about it"? Yeah, I have heard that garbage ALL of my life!! That's a PRIME example of apathy.

a reply to: Profusion

Children's optimism is not ruined by information from the internet. It is ruined by experience. I was born in 1985, and my optimism was just fine until I met large groups of other kids my own age. Those "little darlings" are the ones who ruined my optimism. I had never heard of the internet by the time I lost my optimism. Despair will do that to a kid. However, my son has the internet at home, and near as makes no difference, always had access to it. He is ten years old, has autism and ADHD, and still remains idealistic and hopeful.

He wants to get into media, and youtube particularly, because he very much enjoys photography and video media. His horizons expand far further than the edge of the sky, as far as his ambition and ideals go.

My optimism is rebuilt anew every time I lay eyes on that child, and every time he amazes and delights me with his antics and random musings. His optimism would withstand nuclear oblivion by the seems of things, so I believe your premise may be flawed.

a reply to: Profusion

I think parents have a great opportunity to teach their children.

You can let the negative information bring you down, or you can let it inspire you to be the change you want to see.

Perspective is everything. And as parents we our the greatest influence on our childrens perspective.

Before the internet, there were dial-up bulletin board systems, but those were usually hobbies, game playing, demos or other types of entertainment. Prestel and Teletext were probably the only other digital media. Access to USENET was the preserve of academic and industrial researchers. Anything political was left to the alt.social* forums.
Communication at high school was through the school notice board and by parents telephone.

Personal access to the Internet via dial-up modem happened around 1994. Personal websites were either academic or Geocities.

Today, high school communication involves instant chat services, video uploading, and email. All those seedy video stores and adult entertainment shops that used to be in the poor end of the city are now directly available on anything with a display. There aren't any video cassettes anymore, just smart-cards and downloadable content. It's ironic that while charities were telling parents to move computers into the living room where parents could see them, there was an explosion in wi-fi and mobile connectivity.