Current Situation

In the past few decades, new technology has rapidly transformed the way people
communicate. Although technological innovations have affected all generations, those
who grew up with them are most comfortable using these new modes of communication.
This generation of young people is known by several names, including the baby boom
echo, the millennial generation, and the net generation. Don Tapscott defines this
generation as those born after 1977 and refers to it as the Baby Boom Echo, because it
represents a large growth in population similar to the Baby Boom that succeeded World
War II (20). This population boom coincides with a revolution in digital communication.
(Tapscott, 22). One indicator of this digitalization is the use of email; between 1995 and
1997 the number of email users grew from 35 million to 80 million (Tapscott, 23).
Because they have grown up with the Internet, members of the Net generation
tend to be far more comfortable with it than older people who had to learn how to use the
new technology later in life. Rather than passively surfing the web, they add to its
content by creating their own personal websites and blogs. Often, they download songs,
television shows, and movies illegally, confident that they won’t be caught. Since
everything appears to be public on the Internet, the Net generation may feel entitled to
any content they can download. These young people “have a very different attitude
toward privacy, issues of copyright and ownership of media content, and publicizing their
personal thoughts. More than any other group, this one has inculcated the changes in
attitudes, beliefs, and values that cell phones and the Internet have made available to
everyone” (Hanson, 37).
The Net generation has developed an informal style of communication suited to
the Internet that may not translate well into the workforce. Just as public and private
information is readily available online, the distinction between formal and informal
communication is becoming more difficult to discern (Hanson, 45). Educators are now
trying to catch up to technology by teaching students proper Internet etiquette.
This blurring of public and private domains is also visible in television. Reality
programs are becoming increasingly popular. According to Terri Toles Patkin, reality TV
shows satisfy the basic human need for community. “[Our c]ulture…relies on the media
to create a false sense of community through vicarious experience instead of a real sense
of community through shared experience” (Patkin, 13).
The business world has embraced new technologies, and employees can now
communicate instantly in a variety of ways. However, there is a question of whether these
new forms of communication are as effective as more traditional methods (Wallace, 81).
Also, because there is such a wide variety of modes of communication available, it is
becoming more difficult to select one which is appropriate to the message. (Wallace, 82).
Patricia Wallace categorizes communication channels by bandwidth. The more
information being conveyed, the higher the bandwidth is said to be (Wallace, 83).