Generation Digital: Part 1

"N-geners," "Webheads, "Keyboard kids," "Cyber Children," these are my students, and I had no idea how much they really shaped my daily life until I began to read Generation Digital by Kathryn Montgomery. In one of my early college classes, I had seen a PBS special in which they analyzed how much marketing was targeted at this new demographic, teens and tweens. But I was unaware how much our laws and current technology policies had been shaped in order to protect them until I began reading this book. In the first two chapters, Montgomery discusses the effects that children and teens have had on marketing, the internet and television.

I was first intrigued by this book because of the time period that the author refers to, the time that I first began to use the internet. I was one of those teenagers that groups such as the Christian Coalition, Family Research Council, and the National Law Center for Children were trying to prevent from seeing pornography and violence on the internet and TV. I was one of the 150 million who had access to the internet by 2000. And I think the author brings to light the fact that no was really calling for families to actually talk to their children about what is right and wrong and what to avoid on the internet or TV. Instead, focus was put on passing laws such as the Communications Decency Act and the V-chip, which would restrict content on the internet and force television networks to identify the sex and violence in the TV shows they showed. It truly angered me to see how our first amendment has been restricted during this time period. I, myself, as a fifteen year old during this time period was subjected to pornography on the internet, but I just quickly clicked those websites away. When I encountered sketchy characters in a chat room on America Online, I simply left. As Montgomery delved into the arguments presented by both sides, I seriously began to question the character of America.

And as Montgomery presented the plans to enact the rating systems on television and on the internet, I could not help but cringe as an instructional designer. How can you expect people to understand what TV-Y7-FV means if you do not properly inform them? Did anyone ever think of creating some type of job aid that people could access online or that the cable companies could send out to inform families what these ratings mean? Showing a guide in the dead of night when most people are not interested in watching will not help all of those families that are supposedly interested comprehend them.

Something else that stuck out was in Chapter 2, in which the author talks about how the internet has adapted to market certain products to teens. She mentions a conference in which research presented explains how teens enter into a "hypnotic flow state" while on the Internet, which makes them more easily susceptible and helps to build relationships. It immediately made me think of John Keller's ARCS model, and motivational theory. I began to contemplate how much was actually integrated into the websites that had been designed, intended to lure children into buying the products that were featured on it. I know these websites have to play into a child's attention and relevance; it makes me sad to see where our society continues to head.