I once met someone who experienced a massive surge in internet popularity at a young age, approx 13. That’s where I’ll leave the detail- it’s a fascinating story but not mine to tell. What I can say is some of the observations I made about the impact of this internet popularity at an early age.

• They expressed loneliness when they had no responses to their internet activity.
• Friends meant something different, they included people they had regular online dialogue with but will probably never meet.
• They ‘forced’ an introduction virtually before a face to face meeting (even though to some peers this was considered to be cyber-stalking).

These are traits that we’re now seeing in digital natives, those people who have never known a world without the web. The internet fame this person experienced appears to have catalysed this behaviour development so that the person, although not from the digital native generation, had these traits.

So now I’m pondering is there is a way to identify catalysts that could take us to the next stage of media related behaviour? and are they already happening out there?

…. perhaps I need to read some behavioural psychology books.