People my age and more so children a few years younger than me have grown up in the digital world, where most of the modern technology that is so influential in today’s world (smartphones, tablets, etc) already existed. David Rushkoff and Generation Like take us through the new ways we interact with our world, and the effect it has on young and old, focusing on the younger generations whose lives are the most online. What resonated with me most is how our youth share and interact in a world that is increasingly digitized, yet there is little being done to monitor and educate them about what this actually means.
Children and young adults are spending more and more time and putting more and more personal information online without stepping back to reflect on their actions, because how should a 13-year-old be able to self-discern proper sharing on the Internet? The older generations created “Generation Like” by creating the vast Internet and giving it to all with no guidelines or restrictions. 8th grader Daniela Diaz is a great example of this in the video. She posts singing videos, vlogs and pictures to the web to enjoy the attention they receive. While nothing is wrong with posting a few videos to YouTube, it seems Daniela does not necessarily understand the gravity of what she is doing. And how could she? 8th graders are not expected to have a great amount of self-acquired digital literacy. The most troubling fact about this video is not that her parents are unaware of her online presence, rather it’s that they support and encourage it. Her mother boasts that she takes all of Daniela’s photos and was the one to originally suggest that she post videos to YouTube. Her mother’s behavior is a disturbing reflection of a greater reality: Parents don’t understand the consequences of a digital world, so how are their kids supposed to know? Daniela’s mother explains that when her daughter posts a picture in a swimsuit or bikini, she gets more likes than other pictures. Mind you, at the time of Generation Like, she is not old enough to drive a car. She literally has data that her young daughter exposing herself receives more attention, yet she does not seem concerned by it. Understandably so, the gravity of Daniela’s actions on the Internet is lost on her, as she gets caught up in the fun of likes and comments from “fans.” Parents and all adults need to better understand the permanence of the Internet and its other attributes in order to properly educate their children who nowadays are surrounded by technology from the day they are born. Daniela’s mother doesn’t have to ban her daughter from posting, but before she begins, she should explain to her the Internet’s permanence and other potential consequences. Following the release of the episode, Daniela’s YouTube channel saw a surge of hateful comments.
Another aspect of the Internet discussed in Generation Like and especially affecting children is social currency moving online. Now, young adults’ popularity is often determined by how many likes they get, or the perception of their online profiles. Rushkoff sits down at a table of teenagers helping their friend revamp his Facebook profile and interviews a girl who works to be the most recognized Hunger Games fan online. Rushkoff shows how much time teens put into their Internet presence and content usually without pay, but as an expert tells him, “it doesn’t matter, because they’re famous.” It interests me how much time we spend online not for a tangible reward, but for social acceptance and prestige.
Generation Like examines everyday online happenings for our kids while going deeper to learn more about how today’s youth spend their time online. This video unsettled me, realizing just how much unrestricted and uneducated access young adults have to the Internet while really knowing nothing about it. Our schools need more web competency courses, and our parents need to educate themselves much more before ever putting a device in their child’s hands.
Media in our World 