The now generation has been on computers from early childhood and associates communicating through Facebook or MySpace almost like a type of “currency” states Greg Bukata, one of the many teens interviewed for the Frontline production Growing up Online. There are many compelling, insightful, and educational points in this attention grabbing documentary which was co-produced and co-directed by Rachel Dretzin and John Maggio. Growing up Online brings attention to how and why teens and younger use the internet as a socializing tool and a way to become someone they are more comfortable with as an identity. One of the many fears of parents is the easy access to harmful Websites and predators on the internet; insight into the amount of privacy and discretion needed to protect them is not many youngsters forte. The video shows interviews from freshmen, juniors, and seniors in high school and the majority explained that they know to just delete and block another user, that is unknown to them, who asks to meet up somewhere.
Cyber bulling is also pointed out as being a problem among middle school students, which in one case ended in the suicidal death of the very young Ryan Halligan. John Halligan (Ryan’s father) shared this with Frontline, “The computer and the Internet were not the cause of my son’s suicide, but I believe they helped amplify and accelerate the hurt and the pain that he was trying to deal with that started in person, in the real world.” The possibility of getting hurt is real with almost everything anyone does in life whether in the real world or cyber life; what matters is if the generations using the Internet are taught the same types of safety rules to live by as they are about looking both ways before crossing the street and never go anywhere with strangers.
Growing up in a single parent family with three siblings, I wasn’t able to get into the everyday use of computers until I was 18 and living on my own. Learning how to use and what is available on the Internet came from a crash course by a co-worker; the rest was learned by trial and error. The use of Web life has not become such a huge staple of an identity for me as it has engrossed the generation that is late teens early twenties and the now generation that has been learning how to count and read using the family computer. It is very hard for me to sit at the computer for long periods surfing looking for nothing in particular, just passing time. I am most certainly not one of the many who can’t go longer than a few minutes without updating a status or emailing or texting a friend about what is going and wondering if they are missing out on something. I am the type that can go days or weeks without contacting friends and family. Being able to appear offline when on Facebook would be an awesome feature because sometimes I just don’t want others to know that I am online. For me the act of taking a book and blanket to the patio is way more entertaining than jumping online to catch up with friends I just saw or talked to hours ago. Knowing how to use all the technology that computers offer is an important part of the now and future for many, but it is just as important not to lose the ability to do things the old ways. Being able to move forward means knowing where the start was.