Clueless about youth culture technology full disclosure #3,862: I don’t know what the “M” in Generation M stands for. Is it just me? I suppose I could Google it to easily find out, but maybe certain things are just better left a mystery. Oh wait, it appears Klapperstuck and Kearns couldn’t keep a good thing to themselves, –“Millennials” (p. 120), okay, I get it now. Nonetheless, what interesting research and conclusions drawn on the idea that today’s youth see their private and public lives nearly one and the same, or at least highly blurred. That’s a bit of a shocker to me. One of my favorite moments in the text was the cite of another researcher who commented, “When asked, all youth know that anyone could access their profiles online. Yet, the most common response I receive is ‘…but why would they?’” From my perspective, the better question to ask is, “Why would they want to?” Some of these stats were just plain nuts, “Gen M students spend an average of 6-8 hours a day in multitasking mode with their media.” “81% of young people spend their time using more than one medium at a time.” How is this possible? How many hands and partitioned brain lobes can one person have? But the most interesting point the article raises about this whole hyper-technology frenzy is this idea of how the “M” generation defines it’s being in terms of the public and the private self. This new millennium idea of never having to be, or face oneself, alone is truly an odd reality. Where then, has the space and time for self-reflection gone? If one is always somehow tied to another, what can be, or ever is, the idea of self? The other odd social byproduct of the connected phenomena is this notion that it is not considered rude when your attention to another is only partial because it is divided by attention to others, or other things. Because everyone else seems to be doing the same, all is well and good in Eden it appears and perfectly acceptable. That sure is an annoying sign of the times and one, I suppose, that I’ll never get used to. Ahh well, there’s a price to be paid for every advance I suppose. I’m certainly not down on technology itself, after all it’s sure served me well over the years, but I do think the intrusion into the private self and the blurring of lines between public and private space is a bit alarming for all our sakes – think of the inane phone conversations you are sometimes forced to hear as you walk down the street, ride public transport or wait in line to buy a bagel. It can be excruciating. I suppose, at the end of the day however, I just need to come to terms with the fact that places like Facebook, Twitter and Myspace all point to what Klapperstuck and Kearns noted in their concluding paragraph, “Every generation feels a disconnect with other generations.” Yet for some reason, I can’t help but feel that this guy summed it up way better…
“Please accept my resignation. I don’t want to belong to any club that will accept people like me as member.” – Groucho Marx
Wow, glad you caught the "millennials." I thought the M stood for "multitasking."
ReplyDeleteI agree, some of those statistics are alarming, but when you think about it, it's not that surprising. In class everyday, we're taking notes on our laptops while checking email, looking at future assignments, and who knows what else. Think about the number of people who talk on their phones (and text) while they're driving. It's crazy, and it's sad, but it makes sense.
I wish that somehow, someday, everyone had to spend an entire day without phone signals, games, computers, internet, etc. I think people would look up from their screens and learn to appreciate the world around them a little more.
Caitlin raises a good point, that our classmates are doing a lot of multitasking as well. Although I take my notes on paper... when I can take handwritten notes on an inexpensive tablet, I'll go digital.
ReplyDelete@Caitlin - M can stand for lots of things! (maybe not Mustard, though.)
ReplyDeleteI wonder how your experience in the Peace Corps influences how technology fits into life. I imagine there's some interesting connection there!
"Clueless about youth culture technology full disclosure #3,862: I don’t know what the “M” in Generation M stands for. Is it just me? "
ReplyDeleteNot at all!! Not just you, questioning what exactly Generation"M" defines. Does Generation M know themselves? Millennials, "Me, Myself (and I)", Multi-tasking... what does this elusive "M" represent? Perhaps the answer is as ambiguous as the question. Perhaps it is fair to say that this generation is undefined, with multiple possible definitions, just as multi-media exposes us to so many possibilities, answers become "virtually" elusive.
Have a Happy August!
~Mindy
Pretty sure M can also stand for "moose." Just look at this generation! It makes sense. It does.
ReplyDeleteIn response to your question about what the sense of self is if everyone is constantly connected to one another: I did some research before on this because (by observing, as an outside, annoyed observer) that people's MySpace profiles rarely reflected the kind of person I knew them to be in "real life" (mind you, I was never on MySpace, this was all observed from friends' interactions). There is actually research out there that shows that the sense of self becomes more and more skewed with more and more social networking use, especially amongst younger generations and especially if they are not that social in daily life. I would speculate that this is because your online identity becomes what you want to be perceived as and not who you really are (not you, specifically, but you know what I mean). I wonder what this means for our younger generations' self-awareness (or face 2 face communication skillz, ugh lol omg).