Digital Value Pluralism Among Generation Z and Millennials

<p>This study explores the online behavior of Generation Z and Millennials in Indonesia, focusing on e-commerce practices and social media interactions as sites of value uncertainty. Drawing on qualitative interviews and a multidisciplinary theoretical framework (including Goffman’s self-presentation, Bauman’s fluid modernity, Parekh’s value pluralism, Castells’ network society, and Ibn Khaldun’s social life cycle), the study identifies a shift from inherited local values to fluid, algorithmic digital values. The findings reveal that digital behavior is not only individual or cultural but also structurally shaped by generational dynamics and algorithmic mediation. This value shift not only shapes individual identity characteristics across generations but also alters patterns of inter-community relations within a broader global structure (the digital society). This article introduces digital value pluralism as a new analytical category to understand this transition, arguing that it marks an epistemic mutation—a shift from deliberative pluralism to competitive pluralism, in which values collide in a fast-paced, visibility-driven digital ecosystem. This concept challenges the classical model of pluralism and opens up space for theorizing about pluralism in the post-paper-generation era.</p>