In an age dominated by digital communications, today's teenagers are slowly losing the ability to connect with their real-world peers. What will happen because of that loss? Teens are, without a doubt, one of the first demographic groups to grasp new technologies, and the one that stuck around the longest was the Internet. Today's young people live in yesterday's future. Where connecting with anyone can be done from anywhere. With the ability to have instant connection at your fingertips, everyday organic interactions are becoming softer. Instead of waiting to fulfill themselves, teenagers are becoming reactionary beings with little or no awareness of what it means to be human. Constant digital communication is causing an alarming disconnect among teens, eliminating the need for person-to-person interaction in favor of its digital successor. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Instead of talking to close friends, teens now post their feelings on the Internet where anyone can see them. Children going through the changes of adolescence have always relied on the network of people around them to help them with what they feel and go through. They may be experiencing difficult times on a personal level or they may simply want someone to tell them that they are worth something. But today, some teenagers have resorted to posting their inner feelings online for anyone to see, instead of finding a close friend to talk to, in the hope that someone will come and help them on their journey to adulthood. It might work in theory, but in the case of 14-year-old Hannah Smith, that theory doesn't always work in practice. Hannah Smith was experiencing stress and anxiety, so she turned to the popular social networking site Ask.fm. It was there that she posted her feelings online with the opportunity for anonymous posters to respond to her and with the ability to post anonymously anything can happen. According to Chandra Johnson, “The responses came in rapid succession. Anonymous posters urged Smith to cut himself and drink bleach. One even said: “Do us all a favor and kill yourselves.” This ultimately led Hannah to commit suicide and her family called for action from the website. The police got involved and their investigators discovered something shocking about the source of the comments. The comments came from Hannah herself. He hoped his friends would rally to his defense. Even with the ability to get help from friends, Hannah took to the Internet where she attacked her own character and isolated herself even more. The Internet makes it harder every day for teens to find and be with a reliable group of friends who have their best interests at heart. This leads to a self-denial of the community. Due to the rapid integration of the Internet into the lives of teenagers, many of them no longer experience the community around them. One of these communities is the urban community. Many people continually traverse the urban environment sharing fragments of humanity wherever they go, but teenagers stuck in the digital environment are missing those fragments. With their faces lowered or their minds focused on a conversation that doesn't exist right there with them. They are becoming creatures of dual environments. Paul Goldberger says, “When you walk down the street and talk on your cell phone, you are not on the street sharing the communal experience of urban life.” Lillian Ross uses the term, for her memoir titled "Here But Not Here." With so many teenagers preferring their environment?
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