Perhaps the question that the “Growing Up Online” documentary didn’t cover is how the availability and popularity of the Internet, and perhaps more so the social networking sites (OSN for short), are effecting the previous generation. Since the documentary came out in early 2008, I’ve noticed a proliferation of adults on Facebook.
Some I’m sure are there in order to keep track of their children, as called spying by those who are being “kept track of”. Some adults though are now becoming fully integrated into the world of online social networking. They are finding old friends and making new ones and even using the plethora of applications available to them on the site. The Borg like spread of OSN has gotten to point that an Australian court has allowed sending a message on Facebook to be considered a way of serving legally binding documents1. Many companies are even going to Facebook and MySpace in order to research job applicants, and many of them are not liking what they find2.
Because of this generation’s interconnectedness with the Internet and technology as a whole, previous generations are being forced to learn things like what being “poked” means or how to type in texting jargon. Will the previous generations be able to keep up with this technology infused generation? How will that affect the “Online Generation”? Or will they simply, in the words of a fellow student’s Facebook status update, “realize that they will never understand Facebook”?
1) see http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techpolicy/2008-12-16-australia-facebook_N.htm
2) see http://www.zdnetasia.com/techjobs/career-resources/0,3800009355,62050688,00.htm
And http://www.news-herald.com/articles/2009/02/06/news/nh453376.txt
