ABSTRACT
Some stories which researchers analyse are both new and at the same time familiar. The story that is to be told here is the story of young people and new media. The more familiar part of this story is the dominant discourse of the web-generation. In this discourse, young people are described as extensive users of new technologies and as people whose future world will be a radically new one. The discourse, however, provides little actual evidence of these changes. The less familiar part of the story about young people and new media is that told by young people themselves. This side of the story does contain evidence of changes, albeit without the extreme claims of the web-generation discourse.1 The young people’s stories qualify and differentiate the web-generation discourse. For example, their stories clearly show that the young people in question ultimately do not embrace new media on all levels. Indeed, their perceptions often contradicted the expectations that have been raised. Instead, the adoption of new media appeared to be in part frightening and problematic, partly because of the pressure to conform to high expectations. This pressure found an outlet in a clear condemnation of new media use by other people.
