ORIGINAL RESEARCH

 

A connected and plugged-in worldview: Young people and new media

 

Opgekoppel en ingeprop - 'n Werklikheidsvisie: Die jeug en nuwe media

 

 

Bertie Loubser

Communications Department, North-West University, South Africa

Correspondence

 

 

---

ABSTRACT

Considering their enthusiastic adoption and utilisation of the latest media technologies, the question whether today's (2011) youth is critically aware of, and paying due attention to, the multitude of influences and information that technology transmits into their lives, may legitimately be asked. Questions concerning connectivity, community interaction and peer interaction, identity (and loss of identity) and what the author terms 'space-time discrepancy' are raised in this article. The methods by which people (students or other young people) acquire and assimilate new knowledge (epistemologically), process and understand information (cognitively) and create or formulate personal meaning and significance (metaphysically), are all modified and informed by their consumption of new technologies. Therefore, in the pursuit of an 'acceptable' (by their peers and their community) worldview, young people have to grapple with both the objectively perceived, as well as the subjectively experienced manifestations of the networked world; a world 'immersed' in new media.

---

OPSOMMING

Gegewe die entoesiasme waarmee die jeug van vandag (2011) nuwe media-tegnologie aanvaar en gebruik, kan daar tereg gevra word of hulle enersyds bewus is van, en andersyds of dit hul werklik skeel in hoe 'n mate hierdie inligtingsoordosis hulle lewens raak. Vrae rakende interskakeling, gemeenskaps- en groepsdruk interaksie, identiteit (en identiteitsverlies), en wat die outeur as 'ruimte-tyd verwydering beskryf, word in hierdie artikel toegelig. Die wyse waarop mense (studente of die jeug) nuwe kennis verwerf en inneem (epistemologies gesproke), inligting verwerk en verstaan (kognitief gesproke) en persoonlike waardes en betekenis verwek of formuleer (metafisies gesproke), word deurentyd verander en toegelig, synde verbruikers van nuwe tegnologie. In die jeug se soeke na 'n werklikheidsvisie wat vir hulle gemeenskap en eweknieë aanvaarbaar is, word hulle verplig om sin te maak van die objektief waarneembare, sowel as die subjektief ervaarde gewaarwording van 'n netwerk-wêreld, 'gedompel' in nuwe media.

---

 

 

Full text available only in PDF format.

 

Acknowledgements

Competing interest

The author declares that he has no financial or personal relationships which may have inappropriately influenced him in writing this article.

 

References

Aakhus, M. & Katz, J.E., 2002, Perpetual contact, mobile communication: Private talk, public performance, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom.         [ Links ]

Boyd, Danah, 2006, 'Identity production in a networked culture: Why youth heart MySpace', American Association for the Advancement of Science', 19 February, St. Louis, MO, viewed 07 May 2011, from http://www.w3.org        [ Links ]

Boyd, Danah, 2008, 'Why youth social network sites: The role of networked publics in teenage social life', in D. Buckingham (ed.), Youth, identity, and digital media, pp. 119-142, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation series on digital media and learning, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.         [ Links ]

Buckingham, D., 2008, 'Introducing identity', in D. Buckingham (ed.), Youth, identity, and digital media, pp. 1-24, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation series on digital media and learning, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.         [ Links ]

Hartley, J., 2002, Communication, cultural and media studies: The key concepts, Routledge, London.         [ Links ]

Heim, M., 1993, The metaphysics of virtual reality, Oxford University Press, New York.         [ Links ]

Ito, M., Davidson, C., Jenkins, H., Lee, C., Eisenberg, M. & Weiss, J., 2008, 'Foreword', in T. McPherson (ed.), Digital youth, innovation, and the unexpected, pp. vii-ix, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Series on Digital Media and Learning, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.         [ Links ]

Kryn, J., 2011, 'Facebook, Google, social media sites "actively" censor Christian content: Study', viewed 12 October 2011, from http://www.lifesitenews.com        [ Links ]

Livingstone, S., 2008, 'Internet literacy: Young people's negotiation of new online opportunities', in T. McPherson (ed.), Digital youth, innovation, and the unexpected, pp. 101-122, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Series on Digital Media and Learning, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.         [ Links ]

McPherson, T., 2008, 'A Rule Set for the Future', in T. McPherson (ed.), Digital youth, innovation, and the unexpected, pp. 1-26, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Series on Digital Media and Learning, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.         [ Links ]

Osgerby, B., 2004, Youth media, Routledge, New York.         [ Links ]

Quinn, V., 1997, Critical thinking in young minds, David Fulton Publishers, London.         [ Links ]

Samuels, R., 2008, 'Auto-modernity after postmodernism: Autonomy and automation in culture, technology, and education', in T. McPherson (ed.), Digital youth, innovation, and the unexpected, pp. 219-240, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Series on Digital Media and Learning, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.         [ Links ]

Saxby, S., 1990, The age of information, Macmillan Press, London.         [ Links ]

Schofield, J. & Davidson, L., 2002, Bringing the internet to school: Lessons from an urban district, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco.         [ Links ]

Stald, G., 2008, 'Mobile identity: Youth, identity, and mobile communication media', in D. Buckingham (ed.), Youth, identity, and digital media, pp. 143-164, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation series on digital media and learning, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.         [ Links ]

Strate, L. (ed.), 1996, Communication and cyberspace: Social interaction in an electronic environment, Hampton Press, Hampton.         [ Links ]

Tapscott, D., 2008, 'Growing UP Digital: The Rise of the Net Generation', in D. Buckingham, Introducing Identity, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation series on digital media and learning, p. 13, MIT Press, Cambridge.         [ Links ]

Wolf, S., 2011, 'A new media Christian, the ultimate missionary?', viewed 12 October 2011, from http://www.catholicwebsolutions.com        [ Links ]

Wolters, A.M., 1983, 'On The Idea of Worldview and Its Relation to Philosophy', in P.A. Marshall, S. Griffioen, R.J. Mouw (eds.), Stained Glass, pp. 14-25, University Press of America, Lanham, MD.         [ Links ]

Yardi, S., 2008, 'Whispers in the Classroom', in T. McPherson (ed.), Digital youth, innovation, and the unexpected, pp. 143-164, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Series on Digital Media and Learning, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.         [ Links ]

 

 

Correspondence:
Bertie Loubser
Private Bag X2046
Mmabatho 2745
South Africa
Email: bertie.loubser@nwu.ac.za

Received: 05 July 2011
Accepted: 20 Nov. 2011
Published: 12 Nov. 2012