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Entering the
new millennium we find ourselves flooded by technology, and the old ways are
increasingly taking a back seat in making new choices. From composing
letters to writing emails; from reading books to scanning word documents,
and from personalized diaries with heart shaped locks to e-blogs with
passwords which supposedly secure their contents, the net’s New Age is here
to stay.
But who is
actually using this new wave of high tech – and for many, impersonal –
communications?
Well, Generation Y of course . . . broadly known as those
humans born between 1982 and 2000, immediately after Generation X.
Maritz Research has recently shown that
even in Greece, 48 percent of Generation Y users belong to electronic social
networks, and 21 percent read e-blogs in order to be better informed and
help them form an opinion on various troubling issues.
In today’s world, e-mails are already a
thing of the past and e-blogs are the new hype.
The definition of an e-blog generally
includes phrases such as “a website where thoughts are written,” “it
provides commentary and news on a
particular subject and functions as a personal online diary” and “it
combines text, images, and links.”
In reality, blogs are basically websites
where people can sign up with a username and password. Then, they are free
to upload any information (and/or pictures), decide whether it should be
open to public commentary or be private, and personalize it in their own
way.
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Some
people send off a posting in a minute or two; others write for hours before
putting up the posting for public viewing. It doesn’t matter whether you
know a lot or nothing on a topic, you have freedom of “speech” whoever you
are – which is not necessarily a good thing.
However, be aware, viruses and hackers still pose a danger,
just as with e-mails.
Even Blogger, owned by Google, and by far the largest
blog service, has hackers getting into it, adding links for people to follow
and, guess what happens next? Precisely . . . you have a Trojan in your
computer!
However, does all this high tech stuff apply to Greek
citizens? Is anyone in Greece using these services?
The answer is, not really.
Only 33.5 percent of the total population in 2005 was
internet users compared to our neighbouring Italy’s 48.8 percent in 2004.
The Hellenic Internet Users (EEXI) opinion poll showed that
these low numbers are mainly due to the high cost of web services here (74
percent), and the lack of knowledge on the subject (14 percent). And,
according to the National Statistics Service, most people do not believe the
web has any information of interest to offer them (55.7 percent).
Whatever the reasons for the low internet use in our country,
it is definite that most users tend to be Senior High school graduates, not
yet studying at university – our generation Y.
So, whether you prefer a pen in your hand with the ink slowly
staining the paper, or a keyboard where you may correct your mistakes
easily, there is still room for you in today’s world.
However, you
should hurry up and get writing because it seems that soon, pens, diaries
and paper books will only be found in antique shops and museums. |
