Youth as E-Citizens

The growth of the Internet has dramatically
altered the ways in which individuals
use the media, and youth are at the forefront
of these changes. “Generation Y,” the nearly
60 million individuals born after 1979, represents
the largest generation of young people in the
nation’s history, and the first to grow up in a world
saturated with networks of information, digital
devices, and the promise of perpetual connectivity.
1 Although teens overall spend less time online
than do adults (for a variety of reasons, including
busy school and after-school schedules and the
need to share Internet access with others), they
are much more involved in the interactive and
communications aspects of the Internet.2