The high cost of unfettered access to cyberspace

OPINION:

The unfathomable inner universe of the human mind is every bit as vast as the infinite reaches of outer space — and a realm in which it is just as easy to become disoriented.

Voyagers in cyberspace — particularly youthful ones — are prone to wander off into realms of thought that leave them lonely, quarrelsome and confused. Modernity’s challenge is to ensure that virtual experience does not serve as a pale substitute for a gratifying life.

A natural hunger for new experiences is driving the deluge of digital information, and it is clear that enterprise is evolving to satisfy this appetite. Colleges, including Arizona State University and St. Bonaventure University, have added influencer — formally termed “content creator” — as a major course of study. Syracuse, Quinnipiac and Colorado State are among universities offering it as a minor.

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Dollars flow where eyeballs go, and social media creator revenue is expected to reach $20.6 billion by year’s end, according to EMARKETER. For incoming freshmen, learning the fine art of preening over products and popping off over politics may seem an inviting career.

Accordingly, influencer-driven internet fads bloom and fade like weeds in spring — on TikTok, Instagram and other virtual windows on the digital world. U.S. youths ages 13 to 17 spend an average of three hours and 17 minutes on social media daily, according to a recent Worldmetrics survey, surpassing American adults, whose screen time averages two hours and 24 minutes.

In addition to its financial rewards, though, unfettered immersion in cyberspace can exact a heavy price. Individuals spending more than three hours daily on social media may be dazzled with fresh ideas and sensations, but their solitary journey in cyberspace leaves them significantly more likely to report feelings of loneliness, according to research published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

Evidently, the endless rush of digital images and sounds may gratify the eyes and ears, but living life glued to a screen, bereft of human companionship, leaves the heart forlorn.

No less disturbing, the internet constitutes a beckoning portal to divisiveness that harms democracy. A poll conducted in 37 nations finds that the number of respondents who believe social media is “a bad thing for democracy” has increased “significantly” since 2022 or 2023, according to Pew.

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Tellingly, 64% of Americans surveyed agree. Similar attitudes are characteristic of other wealthy nations, with the Netherlands leading, followed closely by France. By comparison, poorer countries, led by Nigeria and Thailand, reject the notion that social media harm democracy.

Nevertheless, a median of 77% across the 37 nations surveyed agree that internet and social media access has made people better informed about current events.

Sadly, instantaneous communications all too frequently empower the nefarious. The flash mobs that materialize where U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations unfold domestically — and, recently, where agitators gather to protest and rampage in France — exemplify humanity’s capacity for repurposing tools of progress as instruments of subversion.

Moreover, the interconnectedness of billions boosts the widespread dissemination of trendy fads and fetishes. The sudden spike in young U.S. adults identifying as transgender is a case in point. From 2014 to 2023, the proportion of those ages 18 to 24 claiming transgender identity skyrocketed by 422%, according to San Diego State University psychology professor Jean M. Twenge.

It does not take an expert, though, to conclude that an abrupt departure from millennia of human behavioral norms constitutes a fadlike phenomenon. That the mercurial rise of gender dysphoria coincides with the ubiquitous presence of social media testifies to cyberspace’s capability for engendering chaotic social patterns.

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Intriguingly, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data has recently registered a steep decline in U.S. teens identifying as gay, lesbian or bisexual. Ninth-grade girls claiming lesbian or bisexual status plunged 43% between 2021 and 2025, from 30% to 17%.

Those claiming solely a bisexual identity also declined sharply, down from 26% to 13%. Less dramatic is a downturn from 18% to 16% of lesbian, gay and bisexual identification among 12th-graders. Certain crazes wither when they lose their novelty.

Screen-confused people who forsake parenthood — and are then denied the blessing of gazing into the loving eyes of their own children — deserve compassion. Others left lonely or ornery from their wanderings in cyberspace are likewise best served with a helping hand, leading them back to the delights of life in the real world.

• Frank Perley is a former senior editor and editorial writer for Opinion at The Washington Times.

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