At this point in my life, I am in college, in my 20’s, and an avid user of social media. With the increased usage of technology, more people are on social media; the older adult population experienced around a 50% increase in social media usage this past year. Though more people of all ages are using social media, the internet and social media culture is very much determined by the young teen population. Tumblr, Instagram, and Vine- famous people are usually trendsetting teenagers that post “hip” pictures and use lingo that I am not familiar with. Lately, I’ve been feeling like Johnny Depp here in the gif above. (thank you, Buzzfeed) I’ve recently noticed a big gap between what I and the other members of my generation perceive as “hip” or “trendy” on the internet than what is actually hip and trending with the tween/teen population today. With the emergence of new social media apps such as Kik, Vine, or whatnot, I feel like I can’t keep up with the teen generation anymore, no matter how hard I try. What really is “on fleek” and what does “bae” actually mean? And should this Alex From Target person really be that popular? Is it sad that I had to google “new internet slang” in order to write this blog post? I feel exactly like how I imagined my parents felt when I taught them how to text. There’s always going to be a generational gap, even between the tween population and those in college or in their 20’s.
All complaints aside, it’s crazy to think that a bunch of sixteen year old kids could revolutionalize how people use internet, and even technology, today. While I can’t keep up with what kids like or say these days, I can’t help but be impressed by how much of an impact the young population can make. It’s interesting to see how young people, some barely in high school, can establish and market themselves towards a certain image, become an “internet celebrity” and discover success from such endeavors. It’s okay to feel like our dear friend Johnny Depp here, with the rapid rate of expansion of internet usage and teen influence, it’s okay to be lost sometimes.