Generations and Media: The Social Construction of Generational Identity and Differences

Abstract

Media technologies seem to have a special allure, which makes them very popular as generational attributes, symptoms or even manifestos. Media studies together with popularising discourses, escalate the production of labels which are grounded in supposed differences in the generational use of new media technologies. By contrast, we never read about the “refrigerator generation” or the “dish washer generation,” in spite of the fact thataccording to John Hartley (1999, 100), the relevance of the refrigerator’s advent can be compared to that of broadcasting. An explanation for this may be provided by Roger Silverstone who emphasised the “double articulation” of media, i.e., the inseparability of media as material technology and as symbolic content (Silverstone 1994). This duality impacts enormously on the way our experience is organised by media. Experience has been recently identifi ed as an important cultural glue within generations.

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