When I was a kid, I didn’t have a cell phone. There was no such thing as Snap or Instagram.  And, we certainly didn’t have YouTube (although I was lucky enough to witness the debut of MTV.) If I wanted to watch television, I watched it live–without the ability to rewind or pause–something that shocks my kids. If I wanted to talk to my friends, I had to wait until the phone in the hall was free and then drag the long cord into my room into my room for privacy. Or I went to their home and knocked on their door.  Ahhh, the good old days.

As we are all glaringly aware, today things are very different.  Rather than playing outside or hanging out with friends, many of today’s teens spend countless hours using social media applications to talk with their friends. What’s funny is to today’s teen, the idea of talking isn’t something that takes place face-to-face. Instead, it is done over the Internet and doesn’t involve speaking. Since when did taking a picture of your foot or half-of-your face and Snapping it to your friend constitute a conversation? For many teens, that is how they converse with each other in the virtual world. And, ironically, in the real-world, many of these kids actually never talk to each other.  They are simply cyber-friends.