Growing Up Online

Growing Up Online is an in depth look at the lives of teenagers as a generation of kids growing up in a world fostered by the online world and the Internet. It is no doubt incredibly different than all other generations before it and my favorite quote from the documentary sums it up. The Internet has created the biggest age gap between children and their adults since rock 'n roll. To me, that is an incredibly accurate piece of insight because of how true it really is. Rock n' roll was a movement that alienated parents because they didn't understand it. They desperately tried to accept it and understand it but it was truly a product of a generation. It was something that kids and teenagers owned and parents couldn't touch. The Internet has become the new rock 'n roll. Parent scan try all they want to understand it but in reality, they never will. They were brought up in an entirely different world where computers were not even a thought, much less a frontier like the Internet. So yes, the Internet belongs to a generation. It is commendable, though, to see that there are teachers, parents, and educators out there attempting to learn about and understand the Internet. It is an ongoing education that is changing every day. Therefore, if educators and parents want to keep up with their children, they have to make the effort and educate themselves.

So how is this affecting our nation's youth? How has advertising, marketing, and promotional campaigning changed over the years with the advent of the Internet and all it has to offer? Well for one, targeting a specific audience and a specific demographic has become much easier. Advertisers can now choose who they want to target and then execute the plan within minutes. By attaching advertisements to specific social networking sites that are constantly being visited like Myspace, Livejournal, or Facebook, advertisers have an entire generation of youth at their fingertips. This has created a second reality, the Internet, where children and teenagers are being constantly barraged by advertisements. By spending hours a day on the Internet and the computer, they are subjecting themselves to an undending and infinite world of advertising, sales, and promotional campaigns. Products are now part of a teenager's life not just when they are watching television or listening to the radio, but when they are talking to their friends, writing emails, surfing the web, or doing school work! Space may be the final frontier but the Internet is a close second. The possibilites are endless and the amount that can be promoted is seemingly infinite. A click of the mouse can open up an entirely new world. This possibility may be very exciting for promoters and advertisers but it must be taken with caution. It can be a very scary world unless monitored.

I think that "Growing Up Online" made a lot of incredibly valid points. The first involves the education system and the growing amount of changes that are taking place within education as a result of the Internet and the technology that is becoming more and more readily available to students and teachers alike. It is so important these days for professors and teachers to become aware of techology and to embrace it. The fact of the matter is that technology isn't going away. In fact, it is only going to continue pushing educational boundaries as it changes more and more. Technology, computers, the Internet...it's all here to say. Therefore, it's completely futile to fight against this new technological education movement that we have been confronted with. Since students and teenagers are generally the most up to date about the newest technology, it is up to teachers to not allow themselves to become dinosaurs. They have the responsibility to become aware of, embrace, and teach with the technology that is at hand. When used correctly, technology can open up new worlds and create new educational possibilites that were never available to students and educators before. It can be a beautiful asset to education but it is also becoming necessary. Unfortunately, students are finding it harder and harder to sit down and read a book, or write a paper, or listen to an hour long lecture. The attention spans are decreasing as the demand for new technological innovations is increasing. This lack of attention now puts an added stress on the teacher. The educator now must educate themselves so that they can remain on their toes, willing to learn and then teach using the newest technology so that they can keep their students intrigued, engaged, and willing to embrace the possibilites that education has to offer through technology.

Aside from education, Grow Up Online shows an incredibly unique transformation that socialization has undergone concerning social networking sites like Myspace and Facebook. It is now possible for people of any age to live multiple lives; to create a new persona for themselves; to immerse themselves in an entirely different world than the one they live in. On one hand, this encourages more socialization and interaction between people who may not have the ability or confidence to do so in the real world. On the Internet, you can be whoever you want. But the fact of the matter is, the world will continue to turn and at the end of the day, reality is what matters most. Therefore, it is necessary that when interacting on these social networking sites, a person is able to separate that from their real life. This was blatantly illustrated with the girl Autumn who had two lives and essentially liked herself better on the Internet. This was also illustrated through the case of the 13 year old boy who killed himself after a bout with cyberbullying. It is the parent's responsibility to monitor their children while allowing them to have a certain amount of freedom. The bottom line is that it is an incredibly thin line to toe but parents must deal with it. Teens should have a clear idea of the difference between what reality is and what it isn't. When that difference becomes blurred is when complications start to arise. The Internet and all it has to offer should be embraced by people of all ages, but like anything, it can be dangerous in excess. People must learn to find a balance. If this balance is not achieved, we will begin living lives through a computer and our quality of living is going to dissapear. As great as the Internet may be, it is only a series of wires and connections. The real connections are the ones that we make in reality and this is a fact that can never be forgotten, even if we are Growing Up Online.