Hiyo,
So around a year ago I was having lunch with a friend of a friend when she stated:
"youth culture does not exist any more, there used to be punks and teddy boys and ravers but now there is nothing"
my response?
"it is there you just need to know where to find it"
I of course was referring to the internet. In my last blog post I included on-line screen names when talking about my many identities, because for me they are also a big a part of my identity.
We got the internet at home around 2002-2003. I remember the dial up sounds screeching through the hall way and my dad screaming at me for hogging up the phone line some how ,however, I still managed to spend hours and hours at a time, on websites like not cool club and vampirefreaks "socialising" with people from across the world.
It is no secret I never really fitted in at school, I was always a bit of an odd ball who viewed the world differently and although I have one or two very close friends from my childhood for the most part I did not really connect with other children locally. The internet therefore opened so many doors for people like me, I was exposed to a whole new world, most of it good!
I found people who had similar outlooks on life that lived in America, Australia and other parts of the UK. It was the perfect time for a pre-teen like me. I no longer had to feel like a loaner, sure I did at school but as soon as I got home the PC was on and I was MSN chatting until the early hours.
Now this was the early years and all the dangers had not fully been assessed but I was a clever girl and knew not to go giving out personal details or arrange meet ups with strangers! TBH I became skilled at spotting paedophiles from a mile off A/S/L (age/sex/location) followed by an instant invite to web cam no thank you Mr creepy pants! It seems almost alien now days thinking of how many strangers I would chat to on a daily basis, when now there are so many privacy settings and friend requests about but as I say most where good experiences!
I began finding myself more, became more confident and assured in my own world view, found like minded people who introduced me to subcultures, music and fashion! We had our own language and still do LOL, ROFL ect.. I became skilled in the art of HTML and basic programming designing my own websites and decorating my profile pages as if they where my own room because in a way they where, they where Myspace (see what I did there?) to be me.
Since 2003 ssoooo much stuff has progressed on-line that I am now the older generation, when it comes to social networking I come from the Myspace era pre C++ and the YouTube generation. The subculture's I was apart of like vampirefreaks, bebo, MSN, Newgrounds have been developed, they have changed, expanded or have been replace for a new generation.
There are still new subcultures seen in the physical world scene kids, CHAV's ect.. but I think the internet is now an integral part of any subculture. The internet brings subcultures together from across the globe, heck I am subscribed to four Harajuku and K-pop youtube channels! It allows people to express them selves creatively and communicate with each other on a global level.
I distinctly remember a sociology lesson in 2005 when my teacher told me we where no where close to globalisation, in many ways we are still not but on the internet globalisation is fact, it is a way of life. I have come to a point where I don't even feel the need to travel the world to experience it, I can watch videos or live streams or have web chats with people all over the globe I can experience the world through another human being's eyes just as you can see through mine on my blog, facebook, instergram and youtube; it is all so exciting.
Unfortunately however the internet is under threat, Big Brother has his watchful eyes over everything you say and do in this virtual reality and things are being manipulated in ways it is hard to know what or who to believe. Commercial business is starting to take over and run this new exciting venture like they have always run things and unfortunately it is not going to work. I truly hope something comes along to wake these guys up before the joy of the internet is lost for good. I am all ready loosing faith in facebook every time I am asked to pay for a post or an advert pops up "recommended for me" based on my on-line activity, I just feel awful inside. It is like your friends mid-life crises dad has come and crashed the party making everyone feel awkward.
I hope for the sake of future generations the internet does remain a positive exciting portal to the rest of the world and even beyond. This is not to say every young person should stay glued to a laptop or tablet but the internet should continue to compliment young people's experience of this world allowing them to view the world past the end of their street, from the comfort of their own homes.
(Before you even leave a comment I know the internet has lots of porn but when you have humans you have a need for sexual gratification it is what we do, we just need to educate young people on healthy uses of the internet including accessing pornography in a positive way.)
Anyway there is my two sense on the matter :)
ttfn xxx
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