The Atrophy of Social Life Essay

The Atrophy of Social Life Essay

Different aspects define society based on various generations and the core features of each generation. Society continues to change with aspects like gender roles, perspective and perceptions changing. The increased use of the Internet technology with proliferation concentrating on younger generations like millennials and generation Z, the values and norms that that define American society have changed. The purpose of this essay is to answer three questions concerning these variable aspects of generational change and what they mean for humanity and man.

Question 1

Part A

The current society has a set of ideas, expectations, roles, and relationships concerning gender, which have in turn affected both men and women. According to modern society, women should have equal opportunities as men. The Seven Issues, Seven Days reading indicates that the modern world is made for men, given that most things are favoring the masculine including everything ranging from architecture, car safety, and medications. The author indicates that most women spend their time doing roles like cleaning, cooking, and caring for the family, which is compared to unpaid work. This has resulted in increased divorces and decreased marriages, given that women want to be more than just housewives. As result, both men and women are affected by failed relationships, marriages, and increased discrimination. In the current society, there are more cases of physical and emotional abuse to both men and women who are not living according to the current society’s expectations, roles, and relationships. Men who fail to give women equal opportunity are often discriminated against by society regardless of the circumstances. Designing a world that is dominated by men not only causes inconvenience but puts women at risk (Eisend 75). On the other hand, the increased support for women’s empowerment has resulted in men being neglected, which makes them have difficulty fully expressing themselves and their emotions.

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Part B

In modern society, several things are changing in gender roles, expectations, and relationships. For instance, the current society is focused on empowering women. Unlike before, when women were considered only housewives, the current society expects women to work and get paid in the same manner as men (Eisend 77). Thus, women are receiving more attention and increased employment opportunities. In the current society, women want to be the breadwinners of the family and men to also handle house chores. In modern society, men are receiving less attention compared to women. This can be noticed by the different groups and organizations formed to support women’s empowerment. One thing that is changing in these gender roles, expectations, and relationships is that women are becoming more highly favored over men (Eisend 80). In terms of what is not changing fast is enough equality between men and women. On the other hand, what is not changing is that the current society is still male dominant. Although the current society highly favors the feminine, the masculine still has the most opportunities.

Part C

In order to ensure equality between men and women, there should be equal opportunities in everything. For instance, according to the Seven Issues, Seven Days reading, women should have an equal opportunity in launching or testing new products ranging from cars, architecture, and medications. Moreover, women should be allowed to try what suits them before being assumed or judged (Eisend 80).  On the hand, men should be allowed to express themselves and their emotions without being discriminated against or perceived as the dominant creatures. Both men and women have different abilities which should be explored. There should be more equal male and female representatives in different organizations to offset some of the subconscious bias in product manufacturing processes.

Question 2

Technology has certainly made the world become like a small village. In these modern days, one can easily connect with relatives, friends, and colleagues from different parts of the world without having to travel. The internet has not only made communication easier but also other aspects including shopping. According to The Atrophy of Social Life reading, American social life has significantly changed due to technology. However, the social glue that once held societies together and gave meaning to people-‘s lives is currently a brittle, as individuals are becoming more isolated. This section focuses on three approaches that individuals or a community can implement to ensure the virtual world does not become their only connection and means of communication. The approaches include rethinking urban designs and investing in infrastructure that facilitates public activities and communities providing activities that socialize individuals.

1) Rethinking Urban Designs

As a community, people should consider reversing the urban sprawl and increasing urban density so that individuals can live closer to their workplaces, and neighbors and within a walking distance to recreation places, shopping centers, and stores.  Virtual communication is becoming more common due to distance (Eisend et al. 460). When urban designs are constructed in a manner that people live closely it will be much easier for individuals to visit each other. Moreover, when people live in close neighborhoods it will be easier for them to meet. They can often meet at different places including subways, shopping centers, and even the streets. Living in close neighborhoods will not only permit people to easily meet, but it will also reduce the level of loneliness given that they will be able to visit their loved ones, which in return will reduce the use of virtual communication.  According to The Atrophy of Social Life reading, most people use virtual communication to overcome loneliness. The reading indicates that several Americans are lonely, bitter, and disconnected. These situations often result in alcohol and drug abuse, anxiety, and depression.  Thus, rethinking urban designs is essential since it will permit people to visit each other and meet regularly in different places.

2) Investing in Infrastructure that Facilitates Public Activities

Communities should invest in infrastructure that permits community activities including community walking, jogging, running, and biking trails, art centers, parks, neighborhood recreational centers, and libraries. These infrastructures will provide individuals with a place where they can meet and interact with others. They will allow more social connections to show up in daily sociability, given that the number of individuals will increase in community schools, workplaces, public places, and traffics. The Atrophy of Social Life reading indicates that when individuals concentrate only on themselves and individuals like themselves, they insulate and separate themselves from others and their issues. Investing in infrastructures that permit community activities will create room for adults who go through their everyday routines without sharing ideas, stories, and analyses of events with peers regularly at work, at the coffee shop, community taverns places where they can meet and interact (Eisend et al. 464). A community life exists when an individual or a group can go daily to a given location at a given period and interact with other people or friends.

3) Communities Provide Activities that Bring Individuals together

            For communities to overcome the current virtual socialism they should consider introducing activities that bring people together. These activities can include recreational sports, concerts, and arts festivals for individuals of all ages. These activities will encourage people to interact face-to-face with friends on regular basis, and be willing to join others who share the same interests. Moreover, they will create room for individuals to get to know their neighbors and colleagues.

Question 3

The Differences and Similarities between Generation Z, Millennials, Generation X, and Baby Boomers

According to Gen Z Will Not Save Us reading, Gen Z is disappointed by the US and its countless institutes whose ethical arcs seem to encourage stagnation and corruption. This Gen Z’s disappointment is similar to all other generations including Millennials, Generation X, and Baby Boomers. Compared to any other generation, Gen Z is considered not to be monolithic. Generation Z reflects justified disappointment by US’s politics, culture, and socialism. So far Gen Z activism slants both idealist and dystopian. A mutual trend between idealism and dystopian is the deep feeling of alienation, which is argued as the definitive influence of technology (Chasteen and Mills 79). Just like the other generations before Gen Z, the feelings of hopelessness, hostility, seclusion, and anger generated or aggravated by the information era are so general, making it easy to deem that they are natural for all generations.

One noted Similarity between Gen Z and the generation before us is that Gen Z has also been a witness to an economic catastrophe that destroyed or deferred dreams and prosperity with no punishment to those accountable for the crisis.  Most of the financial crisis witnessed by Gen Z occurred during the President Trump and Obama regime, which incorporated political gridlocks, an information system developed atop viral promotional systems which have democratized data, permitting it to weaponized to an extent of obscuring reality, unending digital predictable police violence, and constant wars (Gen Z Will Not Save Us). Gen Z was born into a period of unambiguous and extending discrimination, a period when voter suppression is recognized but hardly addressed. However, hostility is not an aspect of Generation Z, it is, however, the overreaching setting, which is expected to have a significant influence on Gen Z political affairs and other aspects of life (Ekaterina, Petrova and Enikolopov 420).

It is easy not that this uncertainty and stakes are significantly high. Just like millennials, Generation Z has been plunge into a destabilized period dominated by corrupt media distribution systems. These media platforms are certainly hijacked by opportunists, who craft a perfect environment and condition for insurgents offering concepts to clasp on to.  The causes of Gen Z have rallied across the world compared to other generations (Chasteen and Mills 79). One noted difference between Gen Z and the generations before us is that Gen Z has mainly used technology and the internet to conduct their protests and express themselves. For instance, in the period after George Floyd, young Americans protested racial injustice and police violence against African Americans. The protests were conducted using social media platforms such as Twitter, Snapchat, and TikTok. This generation, Gen Z, also organized aids and resources for protestors and called out aristocracies for racist acts using social media content.

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The future

Certainly, the world is rapidly changing and technology is playing a crucial role in these changes. Given that Gen Z is a generation that is familiar with technology mostly social media platforms, there is hope that this generation will assist in leading to a more ideal American society. Generations before Gen Z did not have such platforms which could easily get the world’s attention. However, for this generation to succeed in bringing an ideal America, it will need to work hand in hand with the Millennials, given that both these generations have grown in the digital era. Nevertheless, Gen Z has more potential compared to Baby Boomers. They have platforms that they can use to easily communicate their message and get their world’s attention.

Conclusion

The various questions addressed in the paper demonstrates the changing social system due to increased proliferation of smartphones and other digital devices to enhance communications and interactions among people and communities. However, each generation has different influence on the use of these models and device to make life better. The implication is that generational differences and the advent of Internet have altered people’s perception about the future of people within the community.

 Works Cited

Eisend, Martin. “Gender roles.” Journal of Advertising 48.1 (2019): 72-80.

Eitzen D. Stanley. “The Atrophy of Social Life.” Reading 36.

Firth, Joseph, et al. “The “online brain”: how the Internet may be changing our cognition.” World Psychiatry 18.2 (2019): 119-129.

Golberg Emma, et al. “Seven Issues, Seven Dates.” Reading 24.

Hudson, Sara, et al. “With or without you? Interaction and immersion in a virtual reality experience.” Journal of Business Research 100 (2019): 459-468).

Miller, Amy Chasteen, and Brooklyn Mills. “‘If They Don’t Care, I Don’t Care’: Millennial and Generation Z Students and the Impact of Faculty Caring.” Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning 19.4 (2019): 78-89.

Van Deursen, Alexander JAM, and Jan AGM Van Dijk. “The first-level digital divide shifts from inequalities in physical access to inequalities in material access.” New media & society 21.2 (2019): 354-375.

Warzel Charlie. “Gen Z Will Not Save Us.” Reading 35.

Zhuravskaya, Ekaterina, Maria Petrova, and Ruben Enikolopov. “Political effects of the internet and social media.” Annual Review of Economics 12 (2020): 415-438.

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Instructions:
Be specific and elaborate while offering examples and/or illustrations from the lectures, readings, addendum items, and/or videos. TWO PAGES PER QUESTION double-spaced

First question using the reading “Seven Issues, Seven Days,:
-first share with us some of the different ways our society’s current gender roles, expectations, and/or relationships negatively impact both women and men. Second, tell us what you think is changing and/or is not changing in these gender roles, expectations, and/or relationships? And third, for those areas that you think are not changing, or are not changing fast enough, share with us what changes you would like to see in the years ahead.

Second questions: Using reading from “The Atrophy of Social Life,”
Recognizing that we can’t go back, that computers, Wi-Fi, and social media are here to stay, while also recognizing the importance of meaningful social connections, engagements, and supports, what can we do as individuals – and as a society – to ensure that our virtual worlds don’t become our only worlds and our virtual connections don’t become our only connections? In this digital age where we are so reliant on these new communication technologies for so much of our information, education, and entertainment, think up and describe three concrete things that we can do – either as individuals or as a society – to help us at least maintain, if not expand, our opportunities for meaningful social connections, engagements, and supports even as the rest of the world around us continues to become more virtual and remote.

Third Question: using reading from “Gen Z Will Not Save Us
In light of this, for those of you who make up the more than 80 million Americans that comprise Gen Z (born after 1996), share with us an honest appraisal of your generation. As you see it, in what ways is your generation similar to and/or different from the older generations that preceded you (Millennials, Gen X, Baby Boomers, etc.)? And how hopeful are you – or aren’t you – that your generation will help lead the way to a more “ideal” American society while sharing with us what most accounts for your optimism or pessimism? (If any of you are not a member of Gen Z, that is, you were born before 1997, feel free to answer this question by simply replacing “Gen-Z” with your generation.)