The Mediasphere

In his book Media Virus (Ballantine, 1996), Douglas Rushkoff talks about the datasphere to designate the new electronic social hall. I use the adapted term mediasphere to refer to the mediacentric world of young people. Within youth culture, we have been concerned that this massive, continual media absorption would render our young people as passive consumers, manipulated by the bombardment. In fact, life in the mediasphere has turned our kids into keen interactors (rather than passive receptors) who understand media as well or better than the media moguls and producers who target them. Adolescents can read the media and their symbols and intentions, and turn them back upon themselves as they become increasingly powerful and adept at using them to define themselves.

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