Cybercounseling in the United States and South Korea: Implications for Counseling College Students of the Millennial Generation and the Networked Generation

The millennial generation of students includes those born in the United States after 1982 who began graduating from high school in the year 2000 (Howe & Strauss, 2000). A unique feature of the millennial generation is that they grew up in a time of rapidly expanding technology. The networked generation (hereinafter referred to as the N generation) in South Korea, or individuals who were born after 1980 (Cho, 1999), is similar to the millennial generation in the United States. Like many generations defined by their time, the N generation has altered the face of Korean society. Comparable to earlier generations, the N generation has created tension among persons born in earlier times who have less than positive attitudes toward technological information transmission and communication. To students of the millennial and N generations, technology and networked communications are the norm. Computers, the Internet, cell phones, and MP3s are the tools that most college students know how to both use and misuse. Meeting people in a chat room can be as easy as making friends in classrooms. The nexus of these technologies means that millennial and N generation college students view electronically mediated communication as naturally as earlier generations viewed face-to-face communication. On most college and university campuses, baby boomer and generation X counselors, faculty, and staff interact with and provide necessary services to millennial and N generation students. The baby boomer generation (76 million) includes individuals who were born between 1946 and 1964 in the United States; generation X, on the other hand, represents individuals who were born between 1965 and 1980, representing a total of 50 million in the United States (Maples & Abney, 2006). Lowery (2004) emphasized that the demands this new generation will place on higher education will also require reconsideration not only of the services provided, but also of the means by which those services are delivered. * Characteristics of Cybercounseling in South Korea The National Board for Certified Counselors (as cited in Manhal-Baugus, 2001) defines cybercounseling as "the practice of professional counseling and information delivery that occurs when client(s) and counselor(s) are in separate or remote locations and utilize electronic means to communicate over the Internet" (p. 550). This definition seems to include Web pages, e-mail, and chat rooms. In 2005, there were an estimated 1 billion Internet users worldwide. According to the Institute for Computer Technology (see International Telecommunication Union, 2003), South Korea ranks second in the world for computer use, behind Iceland (61% and 67.5%, respectively). The United States ranks fifth (55.6%) in the world regarding such use. In terms of the number of Internet users who have logged onto the Internet once or more in the past month, South Korea ranks fifth (29,220,000) behind the United States (161,630,000), China, Japan, and Germany. Yang (2005) conducted a survey regarding Internet usage in South Korea and found that 78.5% households had computers, and 93.6% of those households had Internet access. He also revealed that more males (77.4%) tended to use the Internet than females (62.0%). Of all those who accessed the Internet, 47.7% were online for more than 10 hours per week, and the average Internet access time per week was 12.9 hours. He also noted that 88.9% of Korean Internet users have e-mail account(s), and 44.2% use the messenger function mainly for chatting to maintain their friendships. In the early 1980s, the computer began to appear as an important means of communication. In South Korea, the first computer network system was established through the opening of Ketel (a South Korean Internet service provider) by The Journal of Korean Economy in 1987 (Kim, 2001). LL Welfare Foundation (a professional counseling and social welfare foundation in South Korea) was the pioneer of cybercounseling in 1993. …