Many members of the Millennial Generation are considered to be digital natives, those whom have grown up in an environment filled with digital media and technologies.1. With a digital or digitized world environment, a digitally-minded way of social interaction and thinking has become normalized for the Millennial Generation. This digital upbringing has caused a divergence from past generations' ways of thinking and being.1. These deviations are from linear to interactive and from monotasking to multitasking, and all contribute to—or were derived from—our digital socialization and acculturation.1. More and more the youth of today are using and creating media in new ways and for new reasons.
Children's Radio Education Workshop and Bush Radio
One example of youth-created media and its positive impacts may be seen when reviewing the Youth Media Movement South Africa and their interactions with Bush Radio and the Children's Radio Education Workshop. Youth Media Movement is a group of teens and young adults from Mitchell's Plain (which is a suburb of Cape Town, South Africa) that are working to better share and voice their opinions and views for change in their communities through the use of media in the form of radio.2. Nadia Samie has her Master's degree in Professional Media and Media Management and has teamed with Bush Radio and with the Youth Media Movement to create and run the Children's Radio Education Workshop. 3. Bush Radio is the oldest community radio in Africa and is known to be, "the Mother of Community Radio in Africa". 2. Bush Radio created the Children's Radio Education Workshop in 1996 (now also known as the Youth Media Movement Radio Workshop), a year after the creation of the radio station. 2. The Children's Radio Education Workshop was created to provide participants with instruction on how to produce and edit media and to provide participants with education on how to analyze and understand the multitude of media confronting them daily, even by the minute. 2. Samie professes that this type of media training is essential in out digital world because the media surrounds us and shapes opinions and understanding of events from across the globe. 3. Here is a link to a video about the Youth Media Movement Radio Workshop http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMelOlbf3cY
Public Service Announcements
Ultimately, Youth Media Movement participants should leave the Children's Radio education Workshop as creators of media, not simply consumers. 2. One such creation were Public service announcements regarding public health or contemporary community issues were also recorded by Youth Media Movement participants and were broadcast over the radio.2. Some of these public service announcements were tailored by teens and young adults to discuss the importance of safe sex and the reality of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. 2. As stated by Dr. Tanja Bosch, a program coordinator for the Children's Radio Education Workshop and Bush Radio, "the presentation of these [children's] ideas on the airwaves allows intergenerational awareness, allowing parents and other adults to listen to the program and to increase their awareness of the discourse of the youth".2.
