Words by Julia Stachura
,,Every generation has its own time.
Every generation wants to change the world.
Every generation will go into the shadows.
And ours will not.”
Text: Jacek Cygan, The Kombi band (2004)
We have known for hundreds of years that , “every generation wants to change the world”. Every era has shown that the desire to strive for change and to take the world anew, in society, is strong and inevitable. When we talk about new media, we cannot forget the beginnings, without which we would not know the technological possibilities.
If it were not for the twentieth century, which has been described as the century of technology, we would not hear about the news today, we would not have access to the latest information from all over the world, not to mention the fact that it would be difficult for us to contact our relatives. For young users – children and teenagers born after 2002 – the aforementioned problems are distant history.
As the classic author of the text “Generation” used to say – Jacek Cygan, in fact – “Every generation has its own time”…. Young people have time to explore the world, to grow up, to discover themselves, to establish interpersonal relationships…
From the stories of previous generations, children often hear from the mouths of their relatives” “In my time, to find out what was going on with my aunt from the United States, you had to write a letter, go to the post office and send it. After a few weeks or even months, the letter would reach relatives in distant parts of the world. A reply to the letter was sent by the same route – by letter – so such correspondence usually took about a month… When young people hear about real-life stories, about ways of communicating in the past, it is absolutely incomprehensible to them. It’s absolutely understandable when modern children are literally “glued” to technology from birth.
Why? Today’s technological possibilities are unimaginable. The Internet as a basis for instant communication, computers, laptops, tablets, smartwatches (electronic watches through which you can write and call) and… much more.
Hardware alone is not enough – this is already obvious to young people, but older generations, for whom technology has arrived too quickly, need a few explanations….
The word ‘capabilities’ is key. Under this term is the ability to act, discover and achieve a variety of effects. Thus, the communication possibilities of online platforms are extensive.
In today’s article, we will focus on those that are most used among young people.
From what age should children use the internet?
According to the latest scientific research, the best time for a child’s developmental stage is between the ages of 12 and 14. Parents and guardians are of course responsible for deciding whether a child is able to use the Internet responsibly and safely.
It is very important for parents of young internet users to be aware of which platforms their children are using.
Platforms that have become commonplace during the pandemic
Facebook or instant messaging has been around for more than a decade and still enjoys the largest reach. The messaging application of the Facebook platform, Messenger, is a tool that offers many possibilities. With this application, children, teenagers and even adults can create class groups to “chat” together, i.e. communicate on a daily basis about school issues. It used to be that a child’s illness and absence from school meant falling behind and asking classmates to borrow their notebooks to write over several days. With messenger, all the young user has to do is ask one of his or her friends to send him or her photos of the notes and in no time, the photos of the notes arrive. It is a wonderful solution.
Skype and Zoom, Microsoft Teams
Since 2000, the popular platform has been the famous GG or Gadu Gadu, the Polish instant messenger. Gadu Gadu was used by many business people who were just entering the world of the Internet.
After a dozen or so years, when you type in google – online chat platforms – a whole list will be displayed, but it is worth asking the question: What are young people using?
Skype and Zoom – these are the two leading platforms that are statistically used most and most frequently by young users. The time of the Covid-19 pandemic has shown how important webcam chat platforms are in the lives of young people! Being able to include webcams and momentarily achieve eye contact, gives a sense of security. The pandemic was an extremely difficult time in the lives of everyone around the world. Young people were frozen in their homes, at the best time of their lives. When many parents, grandparents and relatives talk about their childhood, children are constantly told that in their day they walked in the woods, explored the world, ,’not sat on those phones’….
The pandemic showed that we cannot compare generations forever, because each generation had different problems. In the 1980s there was no pandemic, however there was martial law…. (in Poland). In the 2020s, there was a pandemic and it was then that the growing up period for children and young people moved to the internet. On Skype, children could talk to their friends. They could participate in many attractive activities to stimulate their creativity, from all over the world.
Even today, many people still attend language classes remotely, which is also a positive and formative development.
In the 2020s, there was a pandemic and it was then that the growing up period for children and young people moved to the internet. Remote lessons on the Microsoft teams or zoom platform also demonstrated the educational and networking opportunities with students from all over the world.
On Skype, children could talk to their friends. They could participate in many attractive activities to stimulate their creativity, from all over the world.
Even today, many people still attend language classes remotely, which is also a positive and formative development.
Tik Tok
The Tik Tok app, over the past three years, has been the most frequently and most downloaded platform. On this platform, young people can add short videos on a variety of topics. On Tik Tok, so-called “trends” are posted every day – i.e. the most watched videos of the day or the most frequently entered content in the search engine.
The average teenager no longer watches TV news programmers. Tik Tok also acts as a radio or news channel. All the latest events from around the world, are momentarily shared on this platform, and then users have the opportunity to comment and share the videos to more people. This is how the algorithm of this app works, so that millions of people are able to get the latest news from the world very quickly.
Many dancers, musicians or chefs have developed their professional activities on Tik Tok. Recipients can follow the profiles of their favorite artists in real time, often engaging in commenting or liking posts.
Young people can also communicate with their friends who have accounts on Tik Tok. Together they upload videos to each other and then talk about them.
Tik Tok also has many risks. The topic of well-being and spiritual development has become one of the three most popular trends since 2020. Talking about mental health, being aware of the many institutions that can help shouldn’t be a taboo topic and it’s great that young people can learn a lot of great and helpful information about the subject.
Unfortunately, tic tock can also become a threat to young people. Through the vulnerability of many young users, the disruption due to biological reasons a lot of the content can cause many disorders.
The trend of manifestation – on Tik Tok could be a good trend, however, for emotionally stable, confident people. Tik Tok, however, has the advantage that this platform is used by very young and diverse people.
If a teenager has complexes due to, for example, school failures or perhaps complexes due to an unpleasant life situation, after viewing a short video with the words: “If you don’t like this video, you will get an A in school!” or “If you treat this video well, you will be the best in the class…” they can cause an avalanche of problems.
A good attitude is very important in life and young people should know this, but sometimes, in fact, things can go wrong. Such content can cause anxiety and panic attacks.
Therefore, these types of trends, should be taken with a huge pinch of salt.
Youtube
Youtube – a platform that, for young people, serves as an educational, entertaining or musical platform. It has been known and loved by children, young people and adults for years. By subscribing to the channels of their favorite creators, watchers have the opportunity to keep up to date with the latest content. By commenting, chatting and sharing to their friends, they have the opportunity to meet new people through similar interests.
To sum up, we could talk for hours about platforms, the growth of the internet and young people. It is a thriving topic as new platforms are being created every day. Young people are discovering the qualities of use in new places on the internet.
One thing is certain – the technological world will not go away. Young people are very fortunate to live in a time when everything is available immediately. All they need to do is to use all these goods with their heads. Today, Facebook, Tik Tok, Skype, Youtube… what about in 5 years? What about in 10? Time will tell!
