I am an older sister to two younger siblings, ages 9 and 7. One thing I have noticed with the younger generation is their attachment to the internet, and the community which has formed around it even at schools.
At the young age of 8 my little sister was forced by her school to bring in her own laptop.
This is when I noticed a significant change in the way she views things. She stopped letting us look at her work, stating that it was simply not good enough. She stopped creating artworks at home and writing stories, because she knew that others were better than her, so she did not see a point.
As someone who paints, I have also experienced this. When I was younger I would complete a painting and feel pride and satisfaction, but now after completing a painting all I feel is the looming knowledge that someone else could have done it better, as I had seen many people online who were much more skilled at painting than I was.
I was lucky to have grown up in the time where the internet was not a big part of how I was raised, and I was able to build up a passion for art before I had to face the massive internal criticism from seeing better on the internet. But my siblings, and the whole younger generation are still learning. This is the time when they build up their skills and passions, which they cannot do when they feel like there is no point in trying.
They do not develop hobbies out of the very human fear of being not good enough, so boredom brings them right back to the internet, where they feel safe.
I hope we can break this cycle.
Science Scholars 2019 