Is internet use universal among teens who can afford it?

April 4, 2019 8:07 PM

Has a teenage/young adult subculture emerged of kids who opt out of the internet totally? I'm sure there are teens who don't use Facebook or Instagram or Twitter or other "mainstream" social media, but is there any kind of "IRL or die" subculture that's developed and caught on in any significant way?

I'm not asking "does every teen use the internet" - of course many can't afford it, don't have access in their communities, etc. But among teens who can access the internet without much trouble, is there any sort of "nooo, I don't use that" subculture, or is that just unimaginable for young people? It seems inevitable to me that there'll eventually be the internet version of straightedge/level-5 vegan/etc but I'm curious if it's arrived yet. Obviously I wouldn't be reading about it on Reddit since those kids by definition aren't on Reddit, so I'm hoping some of you who have teenage kids have heard about an edgy sophomore who has a hardcore, punk name for his refusal to be online. I'm aware of people who are trying not to use Google/Amazon/Facebook, and I see them as the vegetarians to these imaginary vegans.

All anecdata totally welcome. Really what I want to know is what that edgy sophomore calls this stance.

posted by potrzebie to Society & Culture (14 answers total)

I work with college freshmen, and I've encountered a few of them who don't use any social media. It's not possible to attend college in 2019 and not use the internet. Most classes use online course management systems, and you can't turn in your homework or take your quizzes unless you're online. There are probably young people who completely eschew the internet, in the same way there are people who go off the grid, but I think it would be a pretty significant life choice, way more than being straightedge or vegan.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 8:35 PM on April 4, 2019 [10 favorites]

Yeah, I think a more realistic group is those who choose not to have smartphones or those who don’t have social media
posted by raccoon409 at 8:40 PM on April 4, 2019 [3 favorites]

There's definitely a culture of not using email or social media, but most will still use a browser to find online information when they need to. The kids I know who don't do email (most of them!) don't think of it as a subculture thing but more like email is boring and for old people.

The ones I know who eschew social media, gaming, surfing for fun etc are generally girls and they see these things as something that is a heavy part of their brothers' identity, so one of the ways they differentiate themselves is by NOT being into computers. They still all text and use WhatsApp etc with their friends though.

That is all anecdotal, but based on conversations with my 18-20 year old students, as well as my sister and her friends who are in their early 20s.
posted by lollusc at 9:02 PM on April 4, 2019 [1 favorite]

I feel like the computers equivalent of vegans or straight-edge that you're looking for is "free software." The insistence that proprietary/closed/non-free code is harmful to human civilization means that these youths get to give almost everyone else a difficult time for their ideologically impure choices. A substantial fraction of them don't use smartphones and usually don't have reliable wifi (because mumble Linux mumble drivers, or mumble BSD mumble drivers).

Simply not using social media is less hardcore than not using JavaScript, Chrome, Windows, or macOS and only talking to one's friends on like, IRC.

Also they get to lecture teachers who want them to run flash or send .docx files, which kind of resembles some animal rights reactions to dissection, only way more frequent, and they get to tell adults they're too indoctrinated by corporations and The Man.

Admittedly this isn't "less computers" but "computer, but not as we know it."
posted by bagel at 9:06 PM on April 4, 2019 [10 favorites]

there are teens who hate the internet in all its guises, for sure, but I am not aware of any cringey subcultures built around them. teens like that are a lot like slightly older people who don't and won't learn to drive: they (we) exist, will be bores about it if you let them, but don't have a brand or team name or logo or all that kind of business. not needing one is crucial to the self-conceit.
posted by queenofbithynia at 9:21 PM on April 4, 2019 [1 favorite]

Best answer: The No Fap subculture has "reboot" retreats where Internet use is discouraged to avoid Internet pornography.

Not youth necessarily but I did encounter a subculture of dopamine fasters who eschew the Internet and all other sources of quick/easy dopamine hits, such as sugary foods.
posted by Skwirl at 12:39 AM on April 5, 2019 [2 favorites]

One of my three children who is now 22 does not have any social media accounts. They text and stream content over the internet, but have no Facebook, Insta, Snap, Twitter or any social media accounts. Their friends all do. They are a very social person or maybe better put outgoing person.

When asked why, the response is that "it is just not worth it". I never asked them if there is a name for people like them or for the concept of no social media, but I suspect the answer would be something like "smart people".
posted by AugustWest at 1:51 AM on April 5, 2019 [2 favorites]

We throttle our kids' (early teens) access to the internet pretty heavily because we want them to develop good habits independent of the internet. They don't have social media apps because why should I give my kids up to vampires and I think there is more negative than positive in most of what soc.-media has to offer as an experience. They, on the other hand would like to at least be on instagram - but I think it's about 50% looking at almost-naked girls and 50% somehow being in the 'cool' group that use it... and frankly I think it's like the McDonalds of social interactions. So we told them they can't and we police it with lots of (to them) tedious discussions about how they are being used and there are other ways to stay in touch etc etc etc. They still check stuff out at their friends' houses and on friends' devices but I think when they 'can' join Face/insta/twitt etc, they will do it with a somewhat jaundiced eye.

Among their peer group, it breaks into (with overlap) boys are into games (fortnite) the girls into social media. There's lots of discussion among the parents at their school (it's not a public school but an 'alternative kind of school (and in Germany, not the US, which I think kind of matters) and a general consensus that less internet is better. Most kids did not have touch-phones until 6th grade, and even in 7th some don't - very few have a data plan. Amon the 9th graders things are looser but little usage of social media in the Facebook etc. sense because it's not cool. That said, there was heavy texting/messaging when part of the class went to Paris on a school exchange trip - just not on the commercial venues.
posted by From Bklyn at 2:11 AM on April 5, 2019

I'm a librarian and I work with undergraduate college students in the US south. They could not do their schoolwork without going online. The library, for instance, had 100k books and journals in print hard copy, but millions of books and journal articles online.

I love to shock the students with my stupidphone. I bring it sometimes to the information literacy classes I teach to show them why they might need to consider the dates of journal articles, their currency: if you're looking for ways that others have used technology to promote certain outcomes in public health you really might want to consider articles about health promotion apps. My phone don't use no apps.

I went to a marketing class a couple of weeks ago and brought them a copy of an article I'd just read in the Wall Street Journal about how more and more young people are getting a second phone, what I call a stupidphone like mine, so they can periodically detach from all the extras their smartphone offers. I'm kinda hoping there will be a ripple effect from sharing that article with 25 students. (PS: If you want a copy of the article feel free to memail me.)
posted by mareli at 5:53 AM on April 5, 2019 [2 favorites]

I've surveyed hundreds of teens (middle school to first year college) about technology, but have not encountered any who completely opt out of what I call the internet. Some have said that they "never" use the internet, but then say they spend hours watching videos on YouTube or have multiple Instagram accounts.

(I've definitely noticed a trend toward multiple Instagram accounts: parent-safe, secret one that everyone knows about, and sometimes a private one that is more like a diary.)
posted by betweenthebars at 6:28 AM on April 5, 2019 [3 favorites]

I work at a university and know many undergraduates. My impression is that there are a growing number of students who eschew social media, but few-to-none who eschew internet --- it would be impossible to be in college or participate in much of life if so.
posted by epanalepsis at 8:59 AM on April 5, 2019

To add: I know one 20-year-old who has a flip phone. But it is internet-enabled.
posted by epanalepsis at 8:59 AM on April 5, 2019

My kids are often online - but they don't do Facebook (because I blocked it when they were younger, and they have now thanked me for it), nor Twitter, Insta, Snapchat or any of the larger social media sites.

They do Tumblr (or, they did) and Discord, and have some online friends. They watch Youtube and Netflix.

I gather there are a significant number of teens who eschew the big-name social sites. Nobody avoids the internet in general without a fanatic-based reason; as mentioned, you can't do school without it unless you find complex workarounds.
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 10:14 AM on April 5, 2019

I would envisage that there might be this sort of community amongst some young people with autism / asd. It’s a cliche that this group are all pol nerds or genius hackers, but to lots of young people like this there would seem to be no automatic drive to the internet or any use for social media.

It might also be worth considering people with other sensory issues or disabilities whose use of the strict internet might be otherwise curtailed, I don’t know of anything that would amount to a self consciously analogue culture.
posted by Middlemarch at 5:47 PM on April 5, 2019