May 2006 – MediaSnackers

The World Has Changed…#1

earth

…and it's not turning back.

(WORLD) … and it’s not looking back.

The opening lines of MediaSnackers sums it up and here are a few illustrations:

In the state of Virginia a new bill has been passed to introduce Internet education programmes for its students.

There are other obvious dangers around personal saftey and identity but teens state they know and still say it’s worth the risk.

Teens are being warned that information they put online could hinder their career ambitions. They are also dealing with an increasing trend of cyberbullying.

Schools are digitalising their students acdemic reports which gives parents greater access and frees up more of the teachers time. Schools are also using technology in other innovative ways like science-based webcasts.

Even old school media institutions are worried about losing its young viewers.

Read all “The World Has Changed…” posts

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NYA Concerns Over MySpace

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Should we panic about the ‘digital natives’?

(UK) Came across this article from the National Youth Agency outlining concerns for the online habits of young people, in particular their use of social networking sites such as MySpace.com and also their developed adoption of multi-tasking.

For example, is living in a virtual world the same as the real one? I don’t think so. Do discussions with friends on MSN and other chat rooms alter the way young people communicate when they meet each other in the real world? How do judgments about other people’s emotions, needs and sensibilities change when you communicate electronically, often at great speed, in text language and in sentences rarely more than four words long?

I am under no illusions about the effects of a digitalised lifestyle and the questions raised are ones which have to be tackled. But as Mark Pensky outlined in his book, young people today are digital natives—yes it has an effect on how they think, interact, see the world plus their expectations of public services, relationships and education—but I think it’s the latter that has to change with the times.

As noted in the last line of the article, it is about balance which is why I always say to the young people I work with, ‘real-life has more bandwidth’. However, my opening line on the MediaSnackers site (the world has changed and it’s not looking back) still holds true and to deny it is simply foolish.

Would love to see another article looking at the positive effects of such technology—I might ping them and see if they would like one from me (although past experience will say no).

Young People Now article link

The New WWW: Whatever, Whenever, Wherever

Mediasnackers—they’re here!

(WORLD) The world has changed and it’s not going to stop.

Album sales are dropping, cinema attendances are down, young people are not watching TV, they are more interested in playing video games, truning to the web for their news, reasing comics on their mobiles, and are a market worth $159 billion in the US alone.

From texting to myspace.com profiles, free phone-calls to watching episodes of Lost on their iPods (advert-free), weblogs and podcasting, 24/7-always-on to IMing—young people have access and are using and adopting technology like no other generation before.

In the US, 87 percent of 15-year-olds use instant messaging, while nearly half of 12- to 14-year-olds have a mobile phone.
Twenty-five percent of young consumers said they plan to purchase an MP3 player in the next 12 months.
Eighty-eight percent of boys ages 12 to 17 own a game console, compared with 63 percent of girls the same age.
Fifty-five percent of boys would rather play games than watch TV.
Forrester Research Inc.

Mediasnackers will focus on how young people consume and also create media.

Title hat-tip and quotes