Media, Generations, and the Platform Society

Abstract

In the last decades, many studies investigated the relations between media and generations. Two issues dominated the debate on this topic. The first one was the digitization of the media system as a discontinuity (often emphasized as a revolution) capable of supporting the formation of a new “digital” generation. The second one was the global scope of the main socio-cultural processes connected to the worldwide diffusion of the Internet, and the consequent birth of a “global” generation. This article looks at the present mediascape as just a part of that structures of opportunities and constraints contributing to shape the collective identity of the new generations, together with new political movements and global issues. As far as the mediascape is concerned, networked individualism and platformization of the society are highlighted as the most significant features of discontinuity; in such perspective, particular attention should be given to the programmability of the media contents shared through social media platforms and to the scope of collective memory. At the same time, youth political movements and the climate change emergency push in directions not yet predictable.