Commenters here condescendingly blame the kids for doing this to themselves without thought or care. But they wouldn't be doing these things if massive corporations weren't invested in getting them to "engage" with their followers and each other all of the time. After all, "engagement", no matter what form, is profitable, and companies like Youtube are incentivized to produce as much "engagement" as possible, complex thinking and healthy sense of self be damned. Yet I see no commenters here condemning these companies who intentionally create the incentives for the kind of behavior they despise. Makes me think.

"Antonio" is a man's name in Spanish. No wonder "she" feels "ugly". Only in America you see that kind of idiocy in child naming. However, "Antonio" might be a gay male, again, a man in makeup is never beautiful... Sorry, but not sorry, blame it on mother nature.

If this is supposed to be the next generation, then it's just as well that it may be the last.

Try teaching 9th graders. No, seriously--first, you MUST take their phones away. (Thank God we instituted a policy this year, or honestly, the entire class of 2023 would not graduate.) Next, remind them--endlessly, daily, that strange self-involved videos are only funny for about ten minutes. Remind them yet again, that reading and discussing real literature and history, solving complex math equations, singing in the choir, running around the track in gym, throwing pots in ceramics, participating in chemistry experiments, making actual films with a plot in film making class, painting in art, dancing or memorizing script in theater class, playing the flute, taking tests or writing papers, all of it--all of it--is WAY BETTER than living a virtual, plastic, cosmetic, vain glorious, yet horrifyingly insecure existence on you tube videos. Allowing this stuff is essentially allowing self-induced psychosis. As I tell students every day: Go live an actual life, with real activities. Do things! Your "virtual" life is no substitute for the real thing. It's also no wonder why I still teach Kafka's Metamorphosis. This essay and the entire subject is Kafkaesque!

Our culture is utterly lost in its own gaze, scrounging for identity and endless transformations. But there is no "true" identity because there is no true self - only false selves and the ego master they serve. Any idea of the self we may have only serves to shrink both being and potential. Self and identity are illusions and the wisdom traditions of this planet have been saying it for millennia. So please, don't take my word for it.

Unfortunately, these are the components of identity that mean nothing, and accomplish nothing...

Well that's an interesting story. Well done.

Us old folks trying to understand youth culture is a valiant effort. Worthwhile if you are a parent for sure. But my parents didn't "get it" and neither will we. Also, my favorite thing about this article is the correction at the end where Fortnite was originally misspelled.

Masquerade is not self transformation. Self-transformation - the intense, difficult work at individuation is about transforming the being not looks. The obsession with the look, promoted by the media, is decadent and self-defeating.

Too painful to read. Underscore the word ‘news’ in newspaper.

"There are whole branches of psychology dedicated to trying to help us keep ourselves together. And, of course, rafts of diagnoses — bipolar, schizophrenia, multiple personality, borderline personality — for those of us who fail to do this well." Please do not link therapy (to help us keep ourselves together) with severe mental illness (bipolar, schizophrenia, multiple personality, borderline personality) as two sides of the same coin. "Failing to do this well" suggests that people with those diagnoses are merely a bit more troubled than the average person. This is not the case. The four diagnoses listed are all severe, lifelong illnesses (like diabetes) which, in the best case, are controllable with medication, and in the worst case, don't respond to any form of treatment and make life a nightmare in hell.

This sounds like the life of privileged kids, albeit ones who have a lot of internal strife. Other teens, who live in less privileged households, are too busy working or taking care of siblings, and contributing in other ways to their family's well being, to engage in constant online vlogging so they can become youtube stars.

These poor souls who link their lives to YouTube and think they can make a living from being "influencers" (see Olivia Jade-USC dropout) may be "successful" in their own minds for awhile. But when life hits them in the forehead with reality of living, what will they do then? Maybe it's fun and clever to fail online high school? But at some point when they're living on the streets with their phones, what then? I just hope they wake up and get real lives before they detonate themselves on Instagram!

Youth are learning that "identity is a work in progress"? Seems more like "you always be defined by your most flawed moment recorded onliine"

Back in first year uni, in the 80s, my prof told us, "It doesn't matter what your philosophy of life is, so long as it's consistent and self-cohesive," and immediately, in my head, I countered with Whitman's 'multitudes' line. That's youth talking. It's the untamed stream of consciousness all things at all times why do we have to learn punctuation anyway line of reasoning. And it has it's place, for sure. The error is in thinking it makes us more authentic to show all sides of ourselves in real time. Unorganized thought merely flattens the ideas presented until nothing is more important than anything else, but then nothing is really communicated beyond all the feels, and "I am here!! Look at me!" We contain multitudes, but at some point we also develop a more integrated self, not just to be conveniently predictable for others, but to better understand how to live and how to connect and how to be. Prioritizing our ideas into an organized whole in a thoughtful attempt at elucidating who we are and what matters is not to be shrugged off because it's what the "olds" do. It's the later stage work of finding that authentic self.

Speak for yourself. I'm not "schizo". I don't contain "multitudes". I am true to myself. Everyday. Do I contain and control the things that would make people despise me? Sure. But that's what's required to be part of a society. Do I handle people? Yes. But that's because they want to be handled, not told the truth. But no. I do not think in some lightspeed stream of consciousness. I do not jump from mood to mood instantly. I do not want anyone else's approval nor do I care what they think about me personally. I am perfectly happen to be ME. But maybe that's cuz I'm 38 years old. I do worry about my wife though. She's 28. And she DOES think that fast, in all directions, mood jumping around. But she's also Borderline. And right now I'm wondering if her internet habits are a result of that or the cause.

Thank you, Elizabeth Weil. This article single-handledly justifies my brand new NYT subscription. P.S. The link to metamodernism is no longer working.

After reading this article, I think I now have a better understanding why issues surrounding mental health have a greater urgency with the internet generation. I suspect that a YouTube post gone in a direction not intended, would be overwhelming for an adolescent. The line between fame and infamy can be a thin one.

I think what's missing from this story is a consideration of the consequences of this new, poorly understood cultural movement. It's true that older generations have always complained about younger ones, but that doesn't mean they're always wrong. This Antonio sounds like more of a problem than a solution. She's not showing people how to deal with emotional issues, she's showing them how to avoid them. She's encouraging the belief that "be yourself" is the same as "do what you want". She's presenting her problems as though they are part of who she is, not as something she's working on. Telling people you're depressed isn't the same as educating. I definitely have biases, but that doesn't mean I'm wrong on everything. My language is harsh, but there is truth in it. The internet enables all of our worst qualities, and we're acting like it'll all be okay just because we feel like it's been okay before. But this is new. Kids are growing up in a fundamentally different context than they have been since the dawn of time. We can't just say, "It'll work itself out," we have to actually understand it. Is the modern internet wreaking havoc on peoples' attention spans? Is the ease with which one can avoid reading leading to reading and writing (hence thinking) deficits? Do cell phones cause behaviorally harmful addiction? We're trying to answer these questions, but no one seems to be interested in considering what to do if the answers are yes. We'd just rather hope that it's no.

I've got a teenager and reading this was relieving and terrifying - all at once. It is hard for a middle-aged parent to wrap her head around. The description of Antonio was delightful, relatable, and kind. She seemed like a lot of kids I know and then I clicked on her instagram...and...and. WHAT? I inhaled sharply - so surprised to find a barbie doll personae - plastic and overly made up and a personality so unrecognizable from the one described in the text. See, I said it is hard for me to wrap my head around it.