The Internet empowers the young. For the better?

This opinion is inspired by the wave of protests across North Africa and Middle East, and a spot of it in China.

What these countries have in common are extremely popular social networking sites among young people, and a lot of unemployment or hardships in those age bands.

With the speed of technological advances nowadays, the penetration of the Internet into our lives, and the open online environment, do you think it's possible that technology shifts power into the hands of the young (and away from the old)?

I feel that the youngest generations will always be the ones most adept at the newest internet/IT technologies, simply because such technologies enter their lives earlier than everyone else and smaller, faster, better becomes integrated into their worldview before their worldviews are fixed.

And these technologies vest in them a method of communication apart and away from the older generations who are used to and more comfortable with technologies part of their older worldviews. That is, those technologies that came in earlier in their lives. Like for most of us, Friendster was a huge thing, then came Facebook and then Twitter. But for kids in secondary school now, Friendster is an urban myth, while Facebook and Twitter are two essentials in their communication mix. And their activity on Facebook and Twitter are different in styles from our activity on Facebook and Twitter.

And because these technologies are so connected, it is easy to form a certain wavelength amongst these younger users that do not resonate with older users. So when the vast majority of younger users are affected by similar experiences, their voices and complaints reverberate very quickly among the young, while the effect is greatly dampened among the older ones.

But is this a good phenomenon? Sure it gives a voice to the those repressed, and an alternative media for the young and powerless. But the characteristics of these people also mean that they are inexperienced, less mature and are more attuned with the effects of stuff rather than the causes.

And they are so dispersed! When it comes to arrow pointing and directed action, who do people turn to? The owners of traditional media and power, because these people are concentrated and identifiable, when trouble in fact brews from another source. So what happens is that peace only comes when the people in power cede to the requests of the protestors.

All is well and good if the final results are increased prosperity for all. But I'm not certain if change brought this way is at all better, even for the very people who demanded the change in the first place, given the higher likelihood of their immaturity and inexperience. Like I do not see how sensible people would rape a foreign journalist while celebrating the victory of their cause. What the hell.

Then what happens when the older generations need change? How do they counter the scattered and ubiquitous voices of the young when they have no accessible communication technology more effective than the younger generation? We face the possibilities of a new neglected class.