Generation Web: Virtually Understood?

Generation Web, or ‘GenWeb’, can be simply defined as the generation today whose daily lives revolve around using the Internet. GenWeb typically checks emails at every opportunity, chats with friends on MSN or Skype, browse and tag photos on Facebook, watch funny videos on YouTube and ride on a hot air balloon in Second Life. Sound familiar?

This is the virtual world created by GenWeb and in which GenWeb thrives. However, many have asked this question: How has the virtual revolution impact GenWeb?

Web Animals

According to Professor David Nicholas (University College London) on BBC’s The Virtual Revolution: Homo Interneticus, as a result of the hyperlinked virtual world, GenWeb has two types of thinking: linear and associative. This makes them either ‘foxes’ or ‘hedgehogs’. These Web animals are actually at the two ends of a scale, based on three Web behavior characteristics: browsing speed, information sources and the ability to multitask. The Web Fox occupies one end of being fast-moving, sociable and adaptable. While the Web Hedgehog is at the other end of being slow-moving, solitary and specialized. To account for the fact that everyone is different from one another, six other Web animals - bear, elephant, leopard, elk, octopus and ostrich – are identified, each having a different mix of web behavior characteristics other than the two extreme types. Anyone is free to take the Web Behavior Test from BBC to find out which Web animal he/she is.

Brain power or brain drain?

Apart from web behavior, how is GenWeb’s thinking affected by the use of Internet? Research has shown that Internet use has positive effects on the brain in terms of improving memory, visual ability and decision-making (Simpson, 2008). Older people also benefit from using the Internet as studies show Internet searching helps to exercise and improve their brain functions (Marcus, 2008).

On the other hand, the negative impact of Internet use is hard to ignore. GenWeb no longer reads, but ‘scans’ information online. At the same time, GenWeb is easily distracted with various online stimuli which the brain naturally seeks as they hop from one link to another. Even if they appear to be multitasking, they are in fact not managing the multiple tasks well as they have difficulty concentrating on each specific task (Rosen, 2009). Simpson (2008) also acknowledges that while Internet use benefits the brain, the functions linked to empathy and abstract thinking related to human interaction may be affected as well.

The value of Facebook

Having said that, thanks to social networking sites like Facebook, human interaction is still valued in the virtual context. GenWeb perhaps have more friends compared to any other generation. Facebook allows anyone to create their own online community of friends to connect with. But are GenWeb’s ‘friends’ in Facebook real friends or just acquaintances?

Possibly the latter, as it was concluded in a study by Lewis & West (2009) that Facebook enables people to maintain weak, low commitment ties with friends who are mostly acquaintances. The number of real Facebook friends that one has is comparatively little and Facebook helps to foster these ‘already made’ friendships. It is rarely used as a basis to form new friends, but more as a supplementary form of communication through active and passive (inter)action. Active interaction involves writing on each other’s walls and posting private messages. Passive action involves simply browsing the photos posted by others as an act of voyeurism. Frequent interaction is only maintained between close friends. This being said, it is really up to you to decide how far you want to take the whole Facebook adventure. Of course, peer pressure among teens and young adults makes it hard to resist a website where you can track everyone you know or have ever known (Lewis & West, 2009).

Beyond that, Facebook is a powerful tool for mass collaboration among communities of friends who identify with a common cause together. For instance, supporters of the 2008 Obama Presidential Campaign actively used Facebook to spread news and information on the campaign (Tapscott, 2009). The campaign’s success is evidence of GenWeb’s innovation in using online social networks to make an impact on the real world.

To conclude

The virtual revolution has impacted GenWeb in different ways, in terms of web behavior, thinking and social interaction. For better or for worse, as long as the Internet exists, GenWeb will continue to thrive. To understand GenWeb is the key to understanding the future.

Sources

Lewis, J and West, A. (2009) ‘Friending’: London-based undergraduates’ experience of Facebook. Retrieved February 28, 2010, from New Media Society 2009; Vol 11(7): 1209–1229: http://nms.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/11/7/1209

Marcus, M. B. (2008, October 15). Internet search results: Increased brain activity. Retrieved March 1, 2010, from USA Today: http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2008-10-14-ibrain-internet-reading_N.htm

Rosen, Rebecca J. (2009) This Is Your Brain on the Web, Wilson Quarterly, 03633276, Autumn 2009, Vol. 33, Issue 4. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete on February 28, 2010.

Simpson, A. (2008, October 26). Internet 'speeds up decision making and brain function'. Retrieved March 4, 2010, from Telegraph: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/3262597/Internet-speeds-up-decision-making-and-brain-function.html

Tapscott, D. (2009). Grown Up Digital. United States of America: The McGraw-Hill Companies