From the Network Society to Synthetic Communication: A Comparative Media Ecology Analysis of the Communication Regimes of Generations Z, Alpha, and Beta

This study comparatively examines the communication environments and practices of Generations Z, Alpha, and Beta within the framework of media ecology. Generations are treated not as biological age cohorts but as experiential and epistemic regimes shaped by the dominant communication medium. The study is not an empirical field investigation but offers a conceptual and typological comparison. It draws on established empirical literature for Generation Z, platform and interface studies along with child and media research for Generation Alpha, and critical discourse analysis of technology vision texts and the sociotechnical imaginaries approach for Generation Beta. The comparison proceeds along five parameters namely dominant medium, mode of interaction, content production model, epistemic authority, and socio-communicative role. The findings suggest a gradual shift in communication from network-based human-to-human interaction toward human-artificial intelligence interaction and a relocation of epistemic authority from peer groups and algorithmic feeds to personalized artificial intelligence agents. The study argues that this shift necessitates reconsidering the sender-receiver model alongside actor-network theory and the human-machine communication literature.