Lunges Homework 7: Article on the Virtual Generation

For Lunge 7 we have been asked to read and discuss an article based on virtual communities, Web 2.0 etc and for this exercise I have chosen an article that was published in The Age 14th August 2007 by Jo Chandler titled "The Virtual Generation."

The main themes of this article include identifying who are the Virtual generation and what impact the virtual world is having on them now and in the future. Commentators label 15 year olds as this new generation of "digital natives" born around 1992 and "..who absorb the language of technology effortlessly with their fingertips" The age of 15 is a pivotal moment in human development and is considered one of the eight stages critical to this development and whereas this stage used to involve personality and identity changes to a person it is now more of a vertual change perfomed online. This also included emotional maturity and the evolving of ones feelings and being able to express them.

The article also discusses the dangers of virtual worlds and the harm this might be doing to children and teenagers. Are online users too trusting? In many cases the parents of online users are not aware of what their children are looking at and perhaps do not care. This has led to an increase in sexual attacks performed on and by children who do not know any better. They see these activities performed online and believe this is what you do. This can include what is called "happy slapping" where boys "basically punch out a total stranger film it and put it on the internet" to show what they can do. The internet is becoming a spectator sport where violence and sexual abuse are becoming more common.

The article does however, point out that not all the internet is bad and that many teenagers use it for recreation and communicationand enable shy teens to find friends and interact with others. The internet can also not be blamed for all the ills in teenagers worlds with Ptsa Binnion, assistant Principal at McKinnon Secondary College pointing out that "the breakdown of families has had a much more catastrophic impact on children than technology"

I agree with much of this article in that virtaul contact is not the same as and should not be used instead of communication in the "real" world. However, we are becoming a much more insular world where although we can contact a wider realm of peoples through online communication we are becoming smaller and perhaps less able to deal with emotions on a personal level whilst becoming imune to excessive violence and sexual contact.