Children of the Digital Revolution: Do They Need Another Hero?

It was the Canadian Communications theorist, Marshall Mc Luhan, who proclaimed “It is the framework which changes with each new technology and not just the picture within the frame.” Indeed, with the birth of a new medium of communication, old rules are discarded and new ones generated.

For example, news writing for print publications relies heavily on the inverted pyramid structure, placing the most important information in the opening few paragraphs. On the other hand, radio writing depends greatly on a chatty, conversational tone as well as the simplification of complex details, statistics and jargon. Sure enough, the birth of the Internet created a plethora of new rules.

In a previous post, entitled “The Internet: Are We Being Foolish with our Lives?“, we discussed the negative effects that the Internet has on our concentration and our ability to retain information for prolonged periods of time. The piece deduced that if society didn’t alter their intense relationship with the World Wide Web, the physical, mental and psychological consequences would be unalterable.

Jonathan Weber, the editor in chief of New West.Net responded to these findings with his own article. Entitled “The Internet Kids are Alright,” this article claims that the children of the Digital revolution will not suffer in the same ways as old generations due to the fact that “we all still have choices.”

According to a survey conducted by the Nielsen Company, “social networking has been the global consumer phenomenon of 2008.” In addition, social networks and blogs have surpassed the personal email and have become the fourth most popular online category, thanks in large part to the 63% increase in the use of social networking or “Member Community” sites.

Although it may seem that today’s youth have become consumed in Facebook, MySpace or Bebo, Weber believes that “the web and the Xbox and the mobile phone and the relentless pop culture that they channel” doesn’t have as much an impact on their lives as their parents.