I came across a reference today that put me on edge: post-materialism. It’s from a book by Pippa Norris called Digital Divide (2001). Norris’ hypothesis, as told by Barney, is that, "given the demographic profile of internet users (affluent, educated, and young), we might expect that the culture of internet users is particularly postmaterialist in its value/ideological structure" (169). Huh? Postmaterialist? First of all, I can’t stand the word ‘post.’ It just has to stop. Does anything really ever end? And, more significantly, how can she possibly say that this affluent class of internet users is no longer interested in the "by-gone" materialist culture? Most internet use is directed towards shopping. And, all internet use, in my opinion, is directed toward consumption in one way or another. We consume knowledge, community, objects, information. Because of the customizable nature of the digital media, exploration and navigation has become of the same phenomenon as consumption. We consume culture more self-consciously than we ever have. We determine the settings for culture and can customize our engagement. This is consumption as customization.
Please, let’s stop with the ‘post.’ I like the definitive statement as much as the next guy. But, if we are ever to move beyond the simple speculative rhetoric of the network, we must stop declaring an end to history.
