Introduction: Youth, cultural practice and media technologies

Since the early 1990s the impacts of digital media have increasingly been felt among different parts of society in both the developed and, progressively, the developing world. Not surprisingly perhaps, young people have been fast to acquire digital media devices and incorporate them into their everyday lives. Such early adoption follows a pattern that has been evident since the 1950s, whereby youth are typically seen to be at ease with and adapt quickly to emerging forms of technology (see Bausinger, 1984; Reimer, 1995). While we would shy away from propping up a ‘digital natives’ mythology (see Bennett et al., 2008 for a thorough critique), the specific features of digital media have seen their dissemination and uptake by youth proceed at an unprecedented pace. In particular, the interactive features of digital media and their combined capabilities — as communication devices, search engines, cameras, notebooks and so on — have given them a high level of appeal among young consumers.