Internet Is Creating A Generation of Anti-Social Youth

Running head: INTERNET IS CREATING A GENERATION OF ANTI-SOCIAL YOUTH
Internet Is Creating A Generation of Anti-Social Youth
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1INTERNET IS CREATING A GENERATION OF ANTI-SOCIAL YOUTH
The significance of internet in the daily life is undeniable in this twenty first century.
Whereas, the use internet is useful is many ways, the overuse of it, especially among the
youths of this century, is becoming a growing concern. It is impossible to prevent
technological advancement, and with this advancement, the use of internet technologies is
growing on an alarming pace. The extent to which youths are using internet, particularly
social media sites, can be regarded as internet addiction. This excessive and unmonitored use
of internet among the youths is resulting into a deficiency of study, lack of concentration in
the important aspects of life, and anti-social behaviour. The purpose of this essay is to argue
how the unrestricted use of internet is creating a generation of anti-social youth.
The popular social media site Facebook has become a self-promotional platform for
most of the people. According to Carpenter (2012), the inordinate use of Facebook is
inflicting narcissistic behaviour among the users, which is turning them into anti-socials. In
terms of psychology, narcissism is the type of behaviour where one is consumed with the idea
of self, demonstrates grandiose exhibitionism (GE), and desires attention. In addition to this,
they also feel that they are entitled to admiration and respect, and exploits people to get
advantage (EE). Moreover, people having a higher EE also signifies that they would seek
social support, and yet, unlikely to provide that. As opined by Carpenter (2012), these
personality traits are the indication anti-social behaviour, and are found in the young users of
the internet. The most common purpose of the young generation for using internet is the
various social media sites, and in these sites, they upload their pictures and statuses
promoting themselves and seeking validation and appraisal of their audiences. The findings
of the research exhibit that Facebook users, who have high GE level, tend to seek a large
audience often by accepting friend requests from apparent strangers. The trend has been that
the success of an individual depends on how popular that person is on Facebook, and the
measurement for popularity is the number of friends and followers an individual has on

2INTERNET IS CREATING A GENERATION OF ANTI-SOCIAL YOUTH
Facebook. This is the proof of their low self-esteem and incapability to distinguish
themselves from external objects. The research further demonstrates that the users with
higher EE tend to respond aggressively to negative remarks and provide less support than
they gain through Facebook. Therefore, it was found that the agenda of the Facebook users
are to seek social validation and support to boost their damaged ego, rather than socialising.
The study of Jonathan Bishop (2013) puts emphasis on another aspect of the abuse of
internet. He discusses the specific problem of internet trolling and links it to the anti-social
personality disorder (ASPD). The act of internet trolling has been causing problems in both
personal and organizational level. Once the act of sending provocative messages has now
extended to the act of sharing offensive and malicious messages. Bishop differentiates the
purpose of trolling into two categories. The more positive type of trolling is the ‘kudos
trolling’, which is mainly for the purpose of entertainment. On the other hand, ‘flame trolling’
is the type of trolling that is offensive and menacing in nature and intended to harm people.
The diagnostic criteria for ASPD are ego-centrism, personal-gratification, lack of empathy,
hostility, irresponsibility, manipulation, impulsiveness, dishonesty, incapability of intimacy,
callousness, and habit of taking risks. Conducting an interview with a male flame troller,
Bishop confirmed that the traits found in him are similar to the criteria for ASPD diagnosis.
When there is the loss of ability in some people to evaluate information about others, they are
more likely to demonstrate anti-social behaviour like trolling. These trollers abuse
information and manipulate those to gain satisfaction from their victims’ misery. The internet
gives access to everyone to use any information available in it. Therefore, it can be said the
lack of control and the surveying nature of internet provide opportunity for these trollers to
abuse the information displayed in there for their personal vindictive motive.
The research conducted by the Australian Communications and Media Authority
(ACMA) (acma.gov.au 2015) sheds light on the trends of internet usage among the