A Word from the Editor-in-Chief

Abstract

The cultural paradigm shift that is unfolding before our eyes as a result of the dynamic development of digital technologies, artificial intelligence, and social media platforms brings about profound transformations in the formation of identity, social communication, and generational strategies. Successive generations—particularly Generation Z—interact with media as a natural environment for living, self-expression, and negotiating their place in the world. In this context, questions gain increasing significance regarding how individuals and social groups employ available technological tools to construct identities, build relationships, exert influence, and participate in culture.

The thematic issue Identities and Generational Strategies in Digital Culture constitutes an attempt to outline the current state of research on generational media and cultural practices. The authors of the collected texts reflect on the complex relationships between technology, media, communication, and identity, demonstrating how generations—especially Generation Z, but also millennials—negotiate their presence in the digital world. The subject matter is approached from media studies, cultural studies, sociological, and educational perspectives, enabling a multidimensional understanding of the phenomena under analysis.

In the articles devoted to technological influencers (Norbert Vrabec, Klára Zubková) and the role of AI in the education of Generation Z (Viera Kačinová, Dominika Zvercová), the growing importance of new media authorities and innovative educational tools becomes evident. The works of Justyna Dziedzic and Aleksandra Ossolińska problematize issues of bodily identity and self-creation in spaces such as Instagram (bookstagram), demonstrating how digital media have become a contemporary “social mirror.”

Questions concerning communication and institutional strategies are addressed by Piotr Rudera, Julia Senator-Kaczprzak, and Martyna Jankowska, who analyse the ways in which media institutions and employer brands adapt to generational preferences. Research on Generation Z’s perceptions of social media (Tomáš Koprda, Milan Džupina, Györgyi Janková) provides empirical data for reflection on the relationship between technology and its users.

The “Varia” section complements the overall picture of contemporary media culture by addressing issues such as transmediality, the educational potential of popular culture, and the cultural metaphorization of technology and the future (including audiovisual adaptations of literary classics and analyses of television series).

The collected texts demonstrate that digital culture constitutes a space not only of transformation, but also of resistance, negotiation, and the creative reconfiguration of generational patterns.

We believe that this issue will become an inspiration for further research on contemporary cultural identities and generational communication strategies in the post-digital era.

/Agnieszka Ogonowska/