The spoiled under-30 crowd!!!

[DAII]

As a middle school teacher, since the mid-90's ... I would say this applies to many but not all ...

What is very troubling to me today in 2010 ... having students that came up just during the explosion of the internet age ... and now in the 21st century ...

is the blurring between reality and fiction -

and the cause may not be the violent or fantastical movies ... or the video games ...

I think a reality TV epidmemic is affecting many of them.

This younger generation has been bombarded with "reality" entertainment on YouTube, MTV and everywhere else ... and often can't distinguish that some of this is staged, hyped or simply anomalies ... The balloon family stunt is just one example of the madness.

Their lives are on parade on MySpace and Facebook ... making some of them think they are stars in their own shows ... seeking to upstage the theatrics of their peers.

I am seeing this more and more in how they are engaging social events and even how they interact with adults.

You got some of them posting their works of art, via their cell phones, to the net ... within seconds ... all made possible by this instant digital age ... and not being carefully monitored by responsible adults.

The speed in which it all is happening might be too quick for a young mind to filter or decipher without proper guidance.

I don't know if it's me ... as I approach 40 ... but for the first time in a long time I am worried about the next generation.