We now live in a borderless world where all boundaries are collapsing and all cultures are blending. Every day the world is becoming an increasingly multilateral place, in which people from various countries actively interact and blend. Amidst the vortex of the globalizing process, we feel like we are now living in a global village, celebrating the similarities which can be found among us.

Simultaneously, however, the world seems to be sharply divided into two realms of late: the real world vs. the cyber world, or the analog world vs. the digital world. While older people still heavily rely on relatively “conventional” means of communications such as cell phones and e-mail (which already seem to be Copernican changes for the older generation), young people communicate via SNS (social network services) such as YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, or Kakao Talk. And whereas older people still read paper books and borrow books from the library, young people read e-books on the Kindle Fire, search Google, and consult Wikipedia. Even though they physically live in the same time and place, the old and young, in fact, live in two radically different worlds. And the chasm between the two worlds seems hopelessly irreducible.

Undoubtedly, the rise of an electronic device called the “smartphone” has enabled young people to communicate instantly and extensively, creating a borderless world. Currently, approximately 39,000,000 Koreans (or 78 percent of the country) own a smartphone. Since a smartphone is essentially a mini computer and phone in one, you easily surf the Internet, stream videos on YouTube, and connect with others via Facebook and Twitter. Had it not been for YouTube and Twitter, K-Pop would not have been so widespread and successful. Indeed, Korean vocal groups are taking full advantage of the electronic age, riding the tides of internet popularity to turn into celebrity idols overnight.

Recently I attended a lecture by the CEO of KT Corp. In his lecture entitled, “Communications in the Age of SNS,” the CEO remarked: “While it took five years for BOA to become a celebrity singer in Japan, it took only one day for Girls Generation to become famous in the United States, thanks to the unlimited power of Twitter.” He told the audience that it took 38 years for radio to spread around the world, 13 years for the television, four years for the Internet, three years for the iPod, but only a few seconds for YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. Then he surprised us stating that 3,850,000 YouTube users from all over the world have searched for Super Junior, 2,460,000 for Girls Generation and 2,070,000 for Big Bang.

Unfortunately, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter exist in the world which few of the older generation can find or access. For a generation that is used to books, newspapers and television, the digital land is a place too far, too complicated, and too rapidly changing to grasp. All they can handle is e-mail and cell phones. Although they own a smartphone, many older people cannot utilize it fully, save for making phone calls. Older men and women do not even know how to text. They just helplessly gaze at their children who live in another world, as the gap just widens and widens.

Undoubtedly, SNS will play a decisive role in the upcoming elections in Korea. In the past, young people communicated by texting. When Roh Moo-hyun was in danger of losing the presidential election in 2002, it was the power of text messages that aided him to win the elections. Young people received text messages urging them to vote for Roh to “save the nation from a crisis,” and many responded immediately throughout the country. Compared to texting, Twitter’s power is beyond descriptions. Through “re-tweeting,” messages can instantly spread out to every nook and cranny of the country and the world. Therefore, those who control Twitter will surely win the elections. Indeed, how could someone with a steel sword possibly win a fight against someone who has a laser gun?

Yet we still think that the world is divided into two camps: conservatives and progressives. But that is no longer true in the age of SNS. The war is actually between those who live in one world (the analog world) and those who live in another world (the digital world). Who will win the war is obvious already. In the age of electronics, analog cannot possibly stand against the digital. Especially in Korea, where data traffic is No. 1 in the world, the power of SNS is mighty and invincible. Besides, nearly all young people think of themselves as progressive. In fact, what kind of young man or woman would like to be labeled a conservative? In the meantime, our leftists are seizing and manipulating SNS while conservatives still use a car with a loudspeaker for their election campaign. If our conservatives think they could win the elections through primitive means, they are quite naive.

It seems the die has been cast. The only solution perhaps is to “cross the border, close the gap,” as Leslie Fiedler said. How we can achieve it still remains to be seen.

By Kim Seong-kon

Kim Seong-kon is a professor of English at Seoul National University and director of the Korea Literature Translation Institute. ― Ed.