Journal #2 (First on Blog)

There are obstacles that people in my generation deal with that were not present in my parent's generation. 30 years ago, school children had to do almost everything by hand. They had no access to internet or calculators. Almost everything was done by hand. Forward 30 years and children have access to all sorts of different devices that can be both beneficial or harmful to one's self being. Not only do we have the internet to help us with our school work, but we can also use it to watch 7 year old girls being molested or just wacthing things that our eyes should not be seeing...yet! We can accessthe internet from more than one place whether it be a computer or even a phone! For math, there are calculators that have the ability to solve even the most difficult equations just with the press of a button! The fact of the matter is my generation has become so reliable on technology that when we get any type of school work, BOOM, the computer goes on and BAM, the calculators get pressed. I am one of these techies. However, what happens when our calculator breaks or our computer gets turned off by a blackout of some sort? We struggle to do our work mentally, a problem which the generation before us did not encounter due to the lack of technology that was provided then. This is one obstacle that society now faces that did not occur 30 years ago! While technology is probably the biggest gap that divides our generation from the last, it is not the only problem we have that the generation before us did not have. How about drugs? Arguably a bigger problem! This is because children now a days are not just smoking easy stuff such as ciggaretes and a few grams of weed! But are going into high levels of drugs that shouldn't even be used in the same sentence as the word "child." Crack and ecstacy are only some of the very many dangerous drugs that children unlike 30 years ago, have access to. Sex is another one that is very and I stress "VERY" common amongst teenagers. I personally know a guy who had intercourse with another person, not just their age but older, about 4-5 years older to be exact. Sex at an early age is much more common than it was when our parents were in high school. Now more than ever, we kids are exposed to it on tv almost every single day!!! We sometimes are even encouraged by others to do it! The fact of the matter is is that at least 3 people, in high school, according to "Ezine Articles" are having intercourse before, between or after school. My understanding of this statement is that 3 people in Chinguacousy, it could be the same 3 people or 3 different people, are out having intercourse. This is a problem which may have occured 30 years ago but no way has it occured then as much as it has occured now. The simple fact is is that children now a days are subjected to the most peer pressure in the face of mankind, then any other generation in the past. So in conclusion, drugs, sex and to a less harmful-extent, technology, are just some of the obstacles that may have occured in generations past, but no way near the generation that children my age or in my generation will have to face in the forthcoming years.