沉迷网络的千禧一代

文/伊丽莎白·加里斯译/王飞虹

沉迷网络的千禧一代

文/伊丽莎白·加里斯译/王飞虹

编者按：本刊将陆续推出美国大学生写的随笔，这些随笔原汁原味、新鲜生动，供稿人王飞虹是美国北卡罗来纳大学教堂山分校发展心理学博士。王博士现在美国佛罗里达大学和圣达菲大学执教，同时主导家庭互动与儿童行为情感发展方面的研究。在心理学教学实践中，王博士鼓励学生在课外进行文字创作，审视自己和他人的学习、工作和生活状态，更深层次地理解自己、他人与社会，充分发掘、表达和实现自我价值，推动积极价值观的传递和国际文化交流。欢迎读者提供反馈意见。

美国人经常是离不开手机。走在美国的任何大街小巷上，你都会看到人们已经把手机当作身体之延伸。在某种程度上，他们这样做也没有错。手机是通往社交媒体世界的门户。在这个媒体平台，人们可以展现出想要世界看到的任何版本的自己。社交媒体，特别是对千禧一代来说，用来宣扬一个人的理想自我，同时借助这个平台，来判断旁人是否过得精彩。尤其对于千禧一代，互联网和社交媒体已经通过手机、iPad、笔记本电脑和台式电脑而固化为美国社会的生活方式。触手可及的互联网助长了人们对Me世代的刻板印象——主要指千禧一代痴迷于别人如何在网络空间中认知他们。

Americans are always glued to their phones; you could walk down any street within the United States and see people treating their phone like an extension of themselves. In a way, they are not wrong to do so—phones are a gateway2gateway方法；手段。to the world of social media where people are able to project any version of themselves that they wish for the world to see. Social media, particularly for millennials3指出生于20世纪时未成年，在跨入21世纪（即2000年）以后达到成年年龄的一代。, is used to promote a person’s ideal self while simultaneously serving as an outlet4outlet（感情、思想、精力发泄的）出路；表现机会。to gauge5gauge判定，判断（尤指人的感情或态度）。the excitement of the lives of those around them. Between cell phones, iPads, laptops, and desktops, the internet and social media are institutions6institution风俗；生活方式。within American society, particularly for millennials. This access7access接触，入口，指通过各种电子产品上网及加入网上社交媒体。promotes the“Generation Me8美国圣地亚哥州立大学心理学教授珍·M.特文格（Jean M. Twenge）曾于2006年出版《Me世代：年轻人的处境与未来》（ Generation Me: Why Today’s Young Americans Are More Con fi dent, Assertive, Entitled—and More Miserable Than Ever Before）一书，书里所谓的“Me世代”，指的是1970年代以后出生的美国人，作者认为他们的特质是：高度自尊、外控性格、高压生存、平权意识。” stereotype, mainly that millennials are obsessed with how they are perceived by others through cyber space.

[2]让我给你描绘一张美国普通大学生的生活画面：一天始于闹钟唤你起床，随后就是马上查看推特、Instagram、Snapchat和脸书等社交媒体上的更新信息。通过这些平台了解了朋友和家人的最新生活动态之后，你现在可以安心开始新的一天，准备好上课了。然而，一旦开始上课，又有各种诱惑，如手机里信息更新的提醒声、上网和教室之外的人联系，而不是专注于你面前正在讲课的教授。然后你会和一些朋友凑在一起吃个午饭。当你抬头暂离手机屏幕时，才意识到五分钟之内还没有人说一个字！他们也都在看他们的手机。对这个沉默的场面你也不足为怪，继续查看你的手机，直到最终去上其余的课程，并完成已被你拖延的作业。当这一天结束的时候，你禁不住要再次查看完你所有的社交媒体朋友圈才能最后闭上眼睛睡觉，而第二天又是同样的恶性循环。

[2] Let me paint you a picture of the average university student in the United States: The day starts off with an alarm clock waking you up, which is quickly followed by checking social media such as Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat9Instagram和Snapchat目前在美国盛行，但还没在中国推广，前者以分享图片和录像出名，后者侧重于限时图片、文字、多媒体信息分享，用户集中于千禧一代。, and Facebook. After you have been updated about the lives of your friends and familyvia those platforms, you can now start your day and get ready for your classes. Once in these classes, however, you are tempted by your buzzing phone and access to the internet to get in contact with those outside of your classroom walls, rather than pay attention to the lecturing professor in front of you. Then you grab lunch with some friends, only to look up from your screen to realize that no one has said a word in five minutes and instead are looking at their phones as well. Not thinking anything particularly strange about this silent scene, you continue on your phone and eventually go to the rest of your classes and complete homework that you have procrastinated10procrastinate拖延，推迟。on doing. Once the day has come to an end, you feel compelled to check all forms of social media again before finally being able to shut your eyes only to repeat this vicious cycle the next day.

[3]虽然并不是所有美国大学生都如上所述，但这幅画面的确体现了大多数美国大学生的常态。手机相当有利于与亲人保持联系和与世界各地的新朋友建立联系，太多的时候，人们看来是选择这种方式交流而非言语沟通。太多的时候，青少年和年轻人会坐在桌边用手机发短信，而不是和身边的人互动以留下新的回忆。太多的时候，人们对着屏幕独自暗笑，而不是和身边的人开开玩笑，跟现实世界的亲朋增进感情。我们很容易屈服于互联网的诱惑，但大多数人并没有意识到要为此付出代价。

[3] While that depiction may not be true for all American students, it does account for11account for说明。the mass majority. Phones can be extremely beneficial for keeping in contact with loved ones from home and forming bonds12bond联系。with new people from all over the world, but too often it is seen that people choose this outlet over verbal communication. Too often are teenagers and young adults texting at the table rather than making new memories with the humans around them. Too often are people chuckling into screens rather than cracking jokes with13crack jokes with与人开玩笑，讲笑话。those around them and fostering the bonds with those who are actually present. It is easy to succumb to14succumb to屈服于。the temptations held by the internet, but most people do not realize the cost it has.

[4]社交媒体本来是可以用来推动公益事业、传播善意话语的。可它也可能被滥用，导致你和本应该关心的人斗嘴。“网络霸凌”，一个前人未曾听闻的概念，现在却极为盛行。“Me世代”中的许多人正在使用互联网来嘲弄他人，程度之极端直逼底线。互联网这个虚拟世界让懦弱的人有了胆量。人们觉得自己在虚拟平台的行为和言语不会造成任何后果，因为他们看不到自己的言行给他人带来的痛苦。

[4] Rather than using the power of social media to do good and help spread words of kindness, it can be abused and used to bicker with15bicker with与人发生争执。those that you should care about. “Cyberbullying”, a concept not present in past generations, is now an epidemic16epidemic（风尚、思潮、爱好等的)一时流行，盛行。. Many of those in “Generation Me” are using the internet to tease and ridicule others to points of extreme duress17duress胁迫。. The internet gives cowards bravery; people feel like their actions and words have no repercussions18repercussion后果。because they cannot see the ache it causes another.

[5]千禧一代也通常错把屏幕上出现的任何信息都当作真理，而往往那些信息是不可靠的、夸大其词的，甚至是捏造的。而这些被伪饰的“真理”通常被用来支持有误导的看法，用作攻击他人的武器。这里所说的看法之于千禧一代已俨然是“事实”的同义词。在过去的几个月中，有关特朗普总统的争议甚嚣尘上，人们在互联网上以言论为武器肆意发布言论彼此攻击已成家常便饭，导致大家因意见的分歧而相互“拉黑好友”。因着这些沟通误区，社交媒体把人一个个地拘囿于其网上的个人资料页。

[5] Millennials are also under the impression19under the impression觉得，认为。that whatever information shows up on their screens must be taken as truth, when more often than not the material is unreliable, exaggerated, or even falsi fi ed. These masked “truths” are often used to support opinions (“Opinions” being a term that millennials often fi nd to be synonymous with “facts”) that are misled and used as weapons against others. Within the last few months, as controversies over President Trumparose, swinging20swing抛出。words and opinions like weapons via the internet have become the norm on social media, leading people to “unfriend” one another over differences of opinion. Through these miscommunications, social media is confining individuals into21confine into局限于。their online pro fi les.

[6]但社交媒体并不都是不好的，而且从沟通错位和负能量的网络废墟中也可以捞出金子般好的东西。比如说，人们仍然可以使用社交媒体与远方的朋友和家人进行联络。这种能让旧日友情被重新点燃的可能性正是社交媒体的极大魅力所在。互联网把我们所有人都连接起来，这是老一辈人所不可想象的。点击几下按钮，通过互联网，一个人就可以让另一个人笑，或者给困境中的朋友传递希望和鼓励的话，或者甚至帮助修补已破碎的关系。当技术用于这些目的的时候，它并不是将一个人与另一个人隔开了，而是将他们团结到一起。最重要的是，应该以这样的方式使用社交媒体，从而促进人与人的关系而不是阻碍。网络空间是一种很容易陷入的漩涡，但我们必须找到一种平衡，在穿越虚拟网络世界的同时立足于现实。 □

[6] Social media is not all bad, however, and good can be salvaged22salvage 抢救（失事船舶、火灾等中的财物）。from the wreck23wreck破毁物；残骸。of miscommunication and negativity. People are still able to use social media to connect with friends and family who live a great distance away. These rekindling of old friendships are a large part of what makes social media beautiful. The internet connects us all in a way that was unconceivable to past generations. With a few clicks of a button, someone could make another person smile, or give words of hope and encouragement to a friend in need, or even help mend a broken relationship. When technology is used for this reason, it is not barring one person from24bar from不准；禁止。the next, but instead joining them together. The most important thing is to use social media in such a way that promotes relationships, rather than hindering them. Cyber space is a vortex25vortex涡流，漩涡。that is easy to get caught up in, but we must fi nd a balance to keep both feet in reality while traversing26traverse横越。the online world.

Millennials: Caught in Cyber Space

ByElizabeth Garis1

1 About the author: Elizabeth Garis is a twenty-year-old from New Jersey and currently a student at the University of Florida. She is majoring in Psychology, with a minor in Education, and hopes to one day become a school psychologist or guidance counselor. She truly loves to help others and wants to be an aid to students during their stressful times. Being a part of a community at college is an important part of her life right now and, it is through the influences of her peers and teachers that she is able to find her root as a student, and as a person.

伊丽莎白·加里斯今年20岁，来自美国新泽西州，现在佛罗里达大学主修心理学，辅修教育学。她希望有朝一日成为一名心理咨询教师或辅导员，这也是她的爱好。因为她真的乐于助人，想在学生们压力大的时候给他们提供帮助。目前来说，做好大学社区的一分子是她生活中一个重要的部分，正是在同学和老师的影响下，她才能找到作为学生和个人的归属感。