Hi,

My name is Ida. I am a Millennial (born between 1981-2000) and I am addicted to digital technology (Ng, et al. 2010).

I am currently having nine (9) conversations on Facebook, ten (10) conversations on WhatsApp, and five (5) conversations on Instagram DM. I am having conversations in Australia, Uruguay, France, Sweden, Germany and China. Simultaneously, I am working at Lund University as a Project Coordinator, I spend face-to-face time with my family, friends and pet, I work out, I eat, I drink, and I sleep.

Today I have also googled about ten (10) times for information, sent about 40 emails, checked my Airbnb reservation for next week, streamed an American television series, read a few blogposts, and listened to Spotify. When I go to sleep the digital Me remains and I catch up with my virtual activities over breakfast.

When I am not asleep, it can be argued that I get instant gratification, meaning that I get an immediate answer to my questions and conversations. I “think less, and find more” (White, 2014). It is as if I have no patience, I want instant answers and socialisation. But to what cost?

Information currencies

David White (2014) speaks about two information currencies; one that is the institutional, conservative tangible information e.g. hardcopy books, and the other which is digital, personal and ever changing. Traditionally, the value of the two differ suggesting that institutional information is higher and thus more credible than digital information. Digital information and publication is as prior suggested personal in the sense that individuals (whomever it may be) can create information, or content without researching. Digital information can also be highly remixed as suggested by Doug Belshaw (2012). There may be thus a preference for opinions rather than objective news (Marchi, 2012).

This means that my digital addiction may be causing me to read #fakenews. Digital information can now be instantly altered, shared, and consumed. Questionably information has for many become an expression of identity, and thus the information currency (value) is in the relationships and developed clusters as well as knowledge (White, 2014; White & Le Cornu, 2011). Information has developed into something more than “just” information. It may have even gained more value because it entails identity…

-I

 

 

References

Articles

Marchi, R (2012) With Facebook, Blogs, and Fake News, Teens Reject Journalistic “Objectivity”. Journal of Communication Inquiry, 36(3) 246–262.

Ng, E.S.W., Schweitzer, L & Lyons, S.T (2010) New Generation, Great Expectations: A Field Study of the Millennial Generation. Springer Science, 25:281–292.

White, D. & Le Cornu, A. (2011) Visitors and residents: A new typology for online engagement. First Monday, 16(9).

Videos

Belshaw, D (2012) The essential elements of digital literacies. Youtube.

White, D (2014) Visitors and residents – Credibility (part 2). Youtube.