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Growing up online
It is a fact that in the modern world, the internet has a vital role to play in matters regarding youth culture. Many youth are today addicted to the internet as they spend most of their time surfing the web. Most of the users of social sites for networking, such as Twitter and Face book, are the youth. Moreover, almost all the youth, especially in the developed world, have access to computers and smart phones. In turn, the youth are seen constantly surfing the internet as this is how they currently express themselves. The internet is the one responsible for influencing how the youth behave in various sectors of their life. For example, the youth now find that the traditional method of teaching in classrooms is uninteresting. Instead, they opt to read and obtain useful resources from the internet. Also, the internet has affected the youth negatively as some of them use it to engage in immoral acts. These include; watching pornography, joining cults and making weapons, among others.
On the other hand, the American culture that is mainstream has been affected as well by the internet. On a daily basis, people are acquiring gadgets that can make them have access to the internet. Furthermore, personal communication among individuals has reduced, as people are addicted to communicating through the internet. Something needs to be done before the American culture is diminished by the internet.
In my opinion, culture has been defined by media that is user generated as opposed to that, which is not user generated. Content that is user generated is distributed, contributed and created by browsers, on the regular web. The youth are obsessed with social networking sites that are user generated. The latter has affected the youth, as they now seem to be slaves of the social networking sites. In fact, sometimes one can think that the youth have been brain washed by the user generated media. The youth have ignored media that is not user generated, as they do not believe that it is intriguing.
I do not think that ever since the rock and roll generation, the internet has created a generation gap. During the generation of the rock and roll, the internet did not exist, and thus it could not affect them in any way. Also, there is a huge difference between older and younger generations in matters that concern the internet. The latter use the internet more often as compared to the former. Moreover, the older Americans use the internet for research and business purposes, as opposed to the younger Americans, who use it for entertainment. The young Americans are the ones who have made the internet become a social problem, as they misuse it and are addicted to it.
In my opinion, a problem of digital divide exists, as there are people who lack access to the media and the internet. This means that the people in charge of providing such services are biased towards some nations. For example, in the United States, almost everyone has access to the media and the internet. On the other hand, there are some countries in Africa, whereby some people have never seen a computer. They are not aware of this technology and how it has impacted the world. A lot needs to be done to ensure that every person enjoys the services of the digital era.
