The Internet—the new global media, linking people transnationally, providing a public for the marginalised, fostering democracy—versus the internet—virtual irreality, detached from the real world, space for escape, leading to social isolation. From these extreme views research has moved to ethnographic analyses of what actually happens online. Especially young people around the world have adopted the internet as their medium, creating their own virtual spaces. The research project “↑The virtual second generation” [in German | parts in English] analyses how, why and with what consequences second generation Indians in Germany do this.