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Have you ever stopped to think about all the things that didn\\u2019t exist when you were a kid but take for granted now? Or all the things that you\\u2019ve never used but your parents and grandparents take for granted? Boomers for example never knew a world without cars. Gen X never knew a world without TV. Millennials grew up in a world where video game consoles and compact discs were common. Gen Z, the zoomers, may well go their whole lives without ever putting a disc of any kind into a player. Why? Because they have never known a world without the internet.\\xa0

When they were born, their Gen X and Millennial parents were already getting most of their information and starting to do a large part of their shopping online from their laptops and early smartphones. Now, we just call them phones. Gen Z doesn\\u2019t just shop and get their info online, they do everything there. They get their music, movies, books (for those fortunate few who still read) and the rest of their entertainment online. In the wake of COVID, most of their learning, from first grade to college is online. Even their social lives are either online or heavily influenced by it. They spend almost all their time in front of some sort of screen.

The tendency of Gen Z to share literally every part of their lives has certainly been leading to some interesting and in some cases troubling, developments. In the old days, a person who had issues with bullies in their lives could get away when they went home from work or school. Now, if they are on social media at all, they can\\u2019t get away. The bully follows them everywhere. Sure, you can always just stay off of social media but since that\\u2019s where everyone is, most will think leaving it would wind up being even worse.\\xa0

Bullies aside, there is the problem of the unrealistic picture that a clever person can paint with social media. A little knowledge of lighting, camera angles and how to pick the right words can make an ordinary life look extraordinary. Instagram is a perfect example. Just because someone takes a picture of themselves putting up a board over a broken window doesn\\u2019t prove they are doing anything to help. In fact, it\\u2019s pretty likely that it was just a photo-op and the board had already been up for hours if not days. There is even the phenomenon of Instagram couples, people who take pictures together for the purpose of getting more followers and likes but don\\u2019t even talk in real life. The relationship someone might be envying is nothing more than a business partnership. Yet, many will compare their own lives to whatever they see online and find themselves feeling inadequate. This has led to massive increases in teenage depression and suicide. So what to do about it?

One big thing is that people need to stop associating their identities and worth with what they see online. A good portion of it is fake, and even if it isn\\u2019t you\\u2019re mostly seeing the good stuff. Even a real Instagram couple has bad days. They just don\\u2019t share them. Be careful who you associate too closely with online as well, there are too many people who seem to thrive on pushing others\\u2019 buttons.

Also, direct your social media time to things you care about. Instead of what filter is popular on Snapchat taking up your time, you could learn about something, or work for a company or cause that you care about. Nature conservation, history, space explorations, there is a whole real world out there that the internet has made more accessible than ever.\\xa0

TARTLE can help with that direction. Using our marketplace you can get your information protected and shared with whatever cause it is that most interests and concerns you. Start putting the internet to work for you. Instead of letting it dominate your life, you can use it as a tool to connect to the material world that exists outside of the digital. And with TARTLE you can work to make it better.\\xa0

What\\u2019s your data worth? www.tartle.co