How has the Internet changed our notion of collective identity?

The Internet has been around since the 90s,but since the year 2000,it has hugely changed the world we live in. Nowadays, many people depend on the Internet for communication, entertainment, socialising using blogs etc & many other things such as shopping online. There are arguments put forward that the Internet is very beneficial, but it can be seen as causing alienation in our community. As many people depend on the Internet in their daily lives, this results in less interaction & socialisation between people in our society. However,the Internet provides lots of communication methods which include blogs, social networking websites such as facebook, twitter etc, emails, file sharing sites, citizen journalism etc. therefore, the rise & improvement of communication methods has led to better & easier ways to communicate with people living in different nations.The Internet can be viewed as having a positive as well as a negative effect on the user.

Before the invention of the Internet there were very little methods of communication. During the 1970s, radios, telephone, letters, telegrams, CB radio were the most popular communication methods. Morse code, smoke signals were also used in the 70s. There was little change in the 1980s: mobile phones & fax were introduced. 1990s, brought a variety of different communication methods which included email, Internet, text message, MMS, Internet chat room, bulletin board, news group, web conferences, web pages & video conference. It was only in the year 2000, when these methods of communicating actually became popular especially the Internet.

Web 1.0, 'the old media' was controlled by oligopolies (one person) which required the capital to fund creations. The producers controlled choice & gate keepers controlled limited distribution In virtually every media market there are stop players that control 80% of the distribution.Whereas, 'the new media' web 2.0 is commonly associated with web applications which facilitate interactive information sharing, interoperability, user centred design. Examples of web 2.0 include web based communities, web applications, social networking sites, video sharing sites, wiki, blogs etc. A web 2.0 allows it's users to interact with others or to change website content in contrast to non- interactive websites were users are limited to passive viewing of information that is provided to them. Web 2.0 is controlled by the prod users( prod users who also use the media), they can also control choices. Content creation is easy & cheap, so anybody can do it. Compared to web 1.0, this new media has a friction free distribution which allows anyone to post an RSS feed. Web 2.0, gives the user the power to question media.

In Mark Prensky's article- Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants, he argues that today's generation (Digital Natives) who have grown up in the digital world are very different compared to the older generation ( Digital Immigrants). He believes that the Internet has changed their collective identity. The writer argues that those who are not born into the digital world have become fascinated by & adopted many or most aspects of the new technology & always will be compared to the digital natives. This clearly shows how the Internet has changed the older generations collective identity.

In conclusion,the Internet has changed our notion of collective identity. In the last 10 years the Internet has changed the way we communicate. But it has caused alienation in our society. Web 2.0 has opened even more opportunities for the user which puts the digital immigrants in a disadvantage as the digital natives are way ahead in terms of knowledge about new technology who see it as a part of their daily lives.