Pediatricians care for children’s growth and development from the time they are born until they become adults. In addition, pediatricians must be vigilant for external influences. Technology influences children of all ages. Seventy-five percent of teenagers own cell phones, with 25% using them for social media. Technology can lead to an increase in skills and social benefits but there is also the potential for harm such as sexting, cyberbullying, privacy issues, and Internet addiction, all of which can affect health. Pediatricians must become well versed in the new media to provide media-oriented anticipatory guidance and advice on media-related issues.
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Technology is influential in children’s lives from a very young age, especially new media, which occur on everything children use today.
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Technology can cause health problems when issues such as sexting, cyberbullying, and privacy breaches develop.
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Pediatricians must be well versed in new media to adequately care for today’s children.
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All generations use new media, although slightly differently.
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Knowing what new media each age group uses helps pediatricians ask the right questions to detect issues like cyberbullying and sexting.
For the very first time the young are seeing history being made before it is censored by their elders. —Margaret Mead
Social media is like teen sex. Everyone wants to do it. No one actually knows how. When finally done, there is surprise it’s not better. —Avinash Kaushik, Google’s analytics evangelist via TwitterPediatricians have a difficult task: to care for children’s growth and development from the time they are born until they become adults. In addition to physical, emotional, and developmental growth, pediatricians also must be vigilant for external influences, which can have a profound impact on health and well being. In today’s society, one of the most influential factor’s on children of all ages is technology, as shown by the common sights of children using cell phones, listening to MP3 players, and using laptops and handheld devices. Seventy-five percent of teenagers own cell phones, with 25% using them for social media. According to Common Sense Media, 22% of teenagers log onto their favorite social media site more than 10 times a day. With the increase in technology comes not only an increase in skills and social benefits, but the potential for harm such as sexting, cyberbullying, privacy issues, and Internet addiction, all of which may present with vague health symptoms. Therefore, it is crucial for pediatricians to become well versed in the new media their patients and families are using. That is the only way to provide media-oriented anticipatory guidance and advice on media-related issues when they arise.
New media defined
Media today include many different forms. At their core, they are all forms of communication. Media that evolved before digital technology have come to be known as traditional media, whereas media that have evolved since the development of digital technology are known as new media.
Examples of traditional media include all print materials, radio, television, records, and cassettes. Media consumption in this category tend to be passive. People are given these media; they do not create them or interact with them.
New media include everything that is now used on a device or computer. E-readers, smartphones, computers, laptops, CDs, DVDs, MP3 players, and everything they produce are new media. Media consumption in this category is social and active. People can respond to these media and interact with them, if they choose to.
New media technologies are further subclassified by their evolution in the digital world. Web 1.0 typically refers to Internet sites using the earliest web-based technologies, whereas 2.0 sites refer to sites that are the newest and are using the most social tools. The differences between the 1.0 media and 2.0 or new media have to do with the purpose of the sites and the user experiences. Web 1.0 sites are passive, whereas 2.0 sites are active ( Table 1 ).
| Web 1.0 | Web 2.0 |
|---|---|
| 1. Static | 1. Dynamic |
| 2. Home pages | 2. Blogs |
| 3. Reading | 3. Writing |
| 4. Companies | 4. Communities |
| 5. HTML | 5. XML |
| 6. Client server | 6. Peer to peer |
| 7. Lectures | 7. Conversation |
| 8. Advertising | 8. Word of mouth |
| 9. Wires | 9. Wireless |
| 10. Dial-up access | 10. Broadband access |
| 11. All about ownership | 11. All about sharing |
| 12. Netscape for search | 12. Google for search |
| 13. Owning | 13. Sharing |
| 14. Internet Explorer browser | 14. Firefox browser |
| 15. Like a newspaper | 15. Like TV/video |
| 16. Considered a tool | 16. Considered a lifestyle |
Impact on society
The major impact of new media extends beyond technological advances and into the fiber of our society. New media, particularly the more recent advances online, have pushed our society toward a more participatory culture. According to Henry Jenkins, “[a] participatory culture is culture with relatively low barriers to artistic expression and civic engagement, strong support for creating and sharing one’s creations, and some type of informal mentorship whereby what is known by the most experienced is passed along to novices. A participatory culture is also one in which members believe their contributions matter, and feel some degree of social connection with one another….”
New media allow people to thrive in a participatory culture and enjoy benefits such as peer-to-peer collaboration, cultural diversity, enhanced learning, and more engaged citizens. In addition, with new media, people are more connected to their health and health care systems.
Use of new media and how each generation uses new media shows how participatory our society has become. According to the most recent data from Pew Internet and American Life Project ( Fig. 1 ), adults and teens are both online, but teens are online more than adults. However, both share similarities in the activities they do online, such as reading news, engaging in e-mail, shopping, and watching videos. Although adults search for health information more than teens, one-third of teens go online for health information.
However, the generational differences become more pronounced among the adult groups, as shown in Fig. 2 , with the oldest populations least involved in all online activities compared with the younger generations of adults, and with teens.
Within the teen generation, a 2009 Pew Internet survey showed that not all teenagers use the Internet to the same degree as noted in Fig. 3 . However, despite slight socioeconomic and racial differences in how teens use digital devices, data show that most teens are online ( Fig. 3 ).
Impact on society
The major impact of new media extends beyond technological advances and into the fiber of our society. New media, particularly the more recent advances online, have pushed our society toward a more participatory culture. According to Henry Jenkins, “[a] participatory culture is culture with relatively low barriers to artistic expression and civic engagement, strong support for creating and sharing one’s creations, and some type of informal mentorship whereby what is known by the most experienced is passed along to novices. A participatory culture is also one in which members believe their contributions matter, and feel some degree of social connection with one another….”
New media allow people to thrive in a participatory culture and enjoy benefits such as peer-to-peer collaboration, cultural diversity, enhanced learning, and more engaged citizens. In addition, with new media, people are more connected to their health and health care systems.
Use of new media and how each generation uses new media shows how participatory our society has become. According to the most recent data from Pew Internet and American Life Project ( Fig. 1 ), adults and teens are both online, but teens are online more than adults. However, both share similarities in the activities they do online, such as reading news, engaging in e-mail, shopping, and watching videos. Although adults search for health information more than teens, one-third of teens go online for health information.
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