my third place has always been the internet from the time I was 17.
And I’m thrilled that it’s become nearly everybody’s third place around the world.
And yet it’s so ubiquitous now that on this third place there are other spaces that become the third place with the internet being an assumption at this point
And so you get the wars between the different social networks
Or the games and their chat spaces
And it becomes a realm of memes and words and pictures and short videos and going with what makes you chuckle for half a second
I look at what the children consume Online – I can show you sometime a few samples of the videos that are common right now :: their media consumption is these very postmodern images songs and dances that change and morph. With little elements of horror and creepiness. New safe Terrors for the preschoolers through Elementary but have formative effects on character and personality as well
But at some point they slam into the world of adult politics brought by the 20 and 30 something hosts that are playing the games that they play
It has to be a very interesting place to be raised online
Some of the diversity is wonderful and excellent and some of the gang forming aspects are terrifying and strange