Gen Y, Cyber Society

903 Words2 Pages

As a teenager I loved to read: newspapers, magazines, books and plays- I devoured it all. When the internet boomed, social networking sites were developed and interactive mobile phones emerged it was this whole new world, it was much more ‘fun’ to create an online version of myself, browse the web for hours and to text my friends trivial thoughts til all hours of the night rather than read. Caution was roused in parents who were wary of this new technology age, an old school mentality within knew it was better for kids to run outside, read a book- expand their minds. But what other generations failed to concur was that these new technologies/ medias created an avenue for a whole different form of expansion.

The creation of The Global Village (Mcluhan) means that Gen-Y has diverged, over the last few decades, from preferring to play outside and run amok at any opportunity, to participating in a cyber society where everything once done outside can now, in effect, be done virtually. One can play games without going to the park, workout from the comfort of ones own home using Wii Fit, chat with friends without having to use a phone and use the internet without having to use a computer. Generation Y is the most tech-savvy generation so far, even the tech-ability of those a few years younger than I am astounds me but is also a clear indicator of how rapidly technology is advancing and how people are forced to adapt or no longer be part of The Global Village.

Gen Y is all about ‘it’ll get done in my own time’, often dubbed ‘the entitled generation’ and ‘generation now’, the Y is all about convenience. Born into a technology boom, media and technology has been a part of Gen Y’s life forever; served to them on a platter by society, Gen Y...

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...l advancement in our history (), the internet 2.0. McLuhans theory obviously doesn’t cover that when discussing the internet and social media, the message is just as important as the medium; that the choices Gen Y are making reflect content just as much as it does context. From the perspective of this theory McLuhan would say that the message isn’t important, the message isn’t what carries meaning and separates Gen Y from every other generation. In a sense there is truth to this, there is indeed a division between Gen Y and Gen X, just like there is between Gen X and Baby Boomers. But the internet is fast becoming a universally used technology/ media that the barriers that separate the generations is what that technology/ media is used for. Pornography, recipe finder, email, social media, film & television, blogging: this is what truly sets the generations apart.

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