Youth Culture and Net Culture - Essay Example

Youth culture The definition of culture best relates to how people live. It encompasses how a group of people dress, eat, worship and socialize among other aspects of life. This definition dictates that culture is a very relative concept and what is normal in one group of people can possibly be very irrelevant in another. A society, on the other hand, refers to the aggregate of people living together in a more or less ordered community. This definition of society also implies that members of a society must coexist and interact with one another; they also share a number of norms and practices. The use of technology redefines these two concepts. Technology, especially ICT brings a lot of possibilities on the interaction aspect of society. Unlike in the past when one could only interact with those within the same demography or location, ICT brings new possibilities with people made to interact with those far flung away from them. Technology has enabled people o shop in markets millions of kilometers away. The music produced and loved by one group of people is uploaded on YouTube and is instantaneously received by another group of people millions of miles a way from its producers (UNESCO). With the factuality of the online interactions and the possibilities that the website brought, the geographical barriers were soon breached and a new concept of global village was incepted. A village is a small place; a person in a village possible knows several others and can easily reach them should need arise. The internet and other developments in ICT made the world appear as such. People share markets without and interactions have intensified with geographical locations not bearing much importance or even being a barrier as was in the former ages. The new developments affected the current day youth the most. A youth is a young person in between teenage and adulthood. This is an individual in the nineteen to thirty age brackets. This group of people have been affected much by the developments of the internet since most of the social interactions platforms were developed in their times. Such online interaction networks such as Facebook, twitter, my space, YouTube among other commonly used platforms were developed well within the last ten years. The youth have embraced these new developments thereby completely transforming their lifestyles. The newly developed forms of interactions defined a new society thereby bringing a whole new culture. This new society is that formed online. While logged on to Facebook or twitter, one easily manages a list of friends; depending on the personality traits of the individual, the list can get as far he or she deems fit. These friends are not physically known yet are highly held and appreciated. The discussions held with these people are so compelling and will in most cases revolve around the lifestyle and other social aspects of life. These virtual groupings and social platforms have been known to thereby influence how people dress, worship, eat and generally live. Given the previous definition of culture, the internet redefines culture. This is a tricky occurrence given the fact that the young people who are affected the most by these development had previously belonged to other societies. They were born of their parents and had lived with them. Before coming of age to embrace the technological developments they do today, most of their decisions had been influenced by their parents who in most cases belonged to an age when not much interaction had prevailed. This thus brings a clash of cultural values and norms as parents and their children come into conflict because of what is an infringement on their social life should a parent try to influence the decisions their children make. The children will always want to look and sound like their peers that they meet online. They want to dress and do their hair like them. In most cases, the parents are opposed to these yet the children still largely depend on their parents. What follows is a constant state of conflict mostly fueled by the cultural beliefs held by these two factions The ease of communication and the development in ICT have also brought with it a lot of social vices. Most societies had addressed a number of issues with caution to avoid erosion of discipline in the society. Members of a society or a village are people who know one another and will always try to present themselves as people worthy of respect before them. This is a fact that dictated how people behaved leading to decorum in behavior and exercise of restrain. Matters of sexuality were taught at the right time with responsive behavior encouraged. These were times when virginity among teenagers was highly upheld in the society and talks of sex or sexual interactions were not openly encouraged. The internet, on the other hand, brings a whole new concept of anonymity; one can easily use a phony name to maintain friends and hold discussions on virtually any topic. Identity is no longer an issue since the online blogging and interactions sites do not demand for any factuality of these. People have taken advantage of these to foster very bizarre discussions. Sex is openly discussed and the groups of people engaged in such discussion with some opting to take absolutely no precaution to hide their identity. Some of these people claim that they have a right to communicate and will therefore say anything they deem fathomable. Their locations are not known to their communicators and tracing them will also not be easy even if one decides to. This thus gives them the audacity to say anything and in whichever way they think of it. The fashion which is in most cases related to attire is sold in the internet. Internet users will therefore rather buy a cloth that they saw online or buy that which they think is trendy and immediately upload a photo of the dress on the internet to show it off to others and thereby influence them. This is a trend that has led to the development of any possibility in the design of clothes. What looks trendy is that which is seen and appreciated by more on the online platforms. Shoes, trousers designs and hairstyles have all come and gone on the online market place. Designers of such do not seem to care on what the rest of the smaller societies that their audience belong in. They simply develop their designs and market them extensively. Most of cultures had been opposed to these developments and trends since in most cases they give a lot of attention to sexuality. However, the opposition can never materialize given the huge following that the online platform commands. Such comments as “it is none of their business” have been tagged along a number of posts (Halewood and Kenny 2). Another interesting provision of the internet is that it is a market place. People come to sell and buy. Traders do extensive marketing for their goods and services without any fundamental restrictions and compete for the attention of the ever increasing audience. The most interesting aspect of the online media is the fact that it faces no barrier. Its users are safe from any unwarranted exposure and are thus free to do that which they feel like. This is a possibility that has led to the spread of very unethical trades. Such services as escorts and other extreme trades that portray moral decay have previously been displayed on the internet with the traders showing very little concern to what the rest of the society may take of them. In brief, the internet and other developments in ICT have helped make lives easier. Some of the cultures that had bound the society such as the holistic lifestyles experienced in the Islamic societies were easily broken by the use of such platforms (Dunkels 300). But in the use of these media, more vices have also been given forth to. A society is only one when it has a history and promises a future. History is relayed through parents and grandparents while the future is told in the eyes of descendants. These two are worthy of our respect and must hold us in high esteem. It becomes wrong to engage in acts that are likely to demean our self worth simply because the platform on which we interact offers us the anonymity to. The photos uploaded on the internet will stay there for as long as it takes. What happens when at one time a son or daughter who will also be addicted to the media comes across them? Works Cited Dunkels, E. Youth Culture and Net Culture. n.d. 18 October 2012 . Halewood, N and C Kenny. YOUNG PEOPLE AND ICT IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES. n.d. 18 October 2012 . UNESCO. ICT. n.d. 18 October 2012 . Read More