The Covid epidemic has accelerated a social phenomenon, characteristic of our societies and amplified by the progress of the Web, which is leading to the reduction of traditional social relations between citizens. Not only children, but widely in society we spend hours on the Net. The so-called social networks are a means through which every citizen, with his page and his profile, participates in his own way in public life becoming an expert on everything. the knowledge.

This opportunity, apparently offered for free, has opened up an uncontrolled world, with few rules for which one of the few meters of judgment is the number of followers that everyone can boast. On the other hand, those who command the game are the influencers who indicate how in this world new trades allow sellers and buyers to be put in virtual communication without taking into account what is sold and bought. WhatsApp, the instant messaging application boasted, in 2021, over 1.6 billion active users in 180 countries around the world. Instagram with over a billion registered users, in 2019, had 20 billion advertising revenues per year and generated more than a quarter of the turnover of Facebook Inc, which has 2.85 billion monthly active users. In addition to networking and connecting billions of users, social networks are a machine that produces immense earnings, not only that, but it can serve to create consensus, connect opinions to make them become an organic shared thought beyond actions. They are a power, in the world described, which imposes its rules on the nation states by the force of the enormous earnings and capital invested annually. How do millennials and generation Z live in this era? The 2022 youth report, edited by the Toniolo institute, opens a window to their world. First of all, because we have to invest in their development, giving a sense to the future. Therefore, giving value to associations and consequently to the time spent with friends, volunteering and civil service. In the relationship we see important propositional aspects such as giving greater importance to the time spent with friends, family, greater attention to the environment and above all the need to ensure quality in one's existence. The future is also something else, a digital reality born from the union of different technological elements, such as video, virtual reality and augmented reality. In short, the Metaverse in which you enter thanks to 3D viewers to experience a virtual reality, where it will be possible to perform a series of virtual experiences in a similar way to the real one. The goal is a wide audience, to give life to a thriving digital economy within the Metaverse. The focus of revenues will be centered on advertising, the sale of virtual objects between creators and users, as well as the possibility of living virtual experiences. "The metaverse will attract billions of people and each will spend hundreds of dollars on content" (Zuckerberg). It will become a virtual world parallel to the real one. Already now it is possible to buy, for 14 thousand dollars, a virtual land of 100 square meters to build a house or commercial property. Entering this world one assumes the virtual dimension of Avatar, that is the graphic and virtual representation of a website visitor.

But is this the aspiration our old world needs to pursue? Above all, I think that Big Tech is not the only one to decide our future. Because in taking refuge in a virtual world it is as if we gave up building a better real world.

Antonio Barracca

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