The socialization of young people in imaginary worlds

Abstract

Internet is emerging as a value-neutral medium, but receives, with
applications offered over it, dimensions (imaginary or virtual) power
of unimaginable proportions. The young generations, born in the
era of continuous improvement of the media and the technological
innovations that accompany it, are the “natives” of this age, and the
older generations are “strangers- newcomers” reciprocal to the years
of age. Sociology, and other social sciences and humanities, are facing
the challenge of adopting new theoretical titles and its content,
as compared to traditional names and contents. It refers to changing
the traditional paradigm of socialization of young generations, which
strongly generates the conflict of traditional (return to the tradition of
the Middle Ages and even earlier) and modern (the rejection of tradition
and its eye for reform, then giving new content to the traditional
notions). This also applies to parenting, education and upbringing, as
well as the role of society in general as traditional spatial, temporal,
religious, ethnic, labor, gender and all other forms of its manifestation.
Therefore, not only the present and the future are treated as virtual
(imaginary), but the past is increasingly seen as virtual.