A Facebook Generation
Gregory K. Moffatt, Ph.D.
I just finished reading "The Trophy Kids Grow Up" by Ron Alsop and it was vindicating. I have seen the effects of an email/texting/cell phone/Facebook generation coming for a long time and, according to this author, they are now here.
This generation, Millenials, as Alsop calls them, feels the need for instant communication 24/7. Electronic communication is not a convenience for Millenials. It is a percieved necessity. They will quickly interrupt meaningful, face-to-face conversation with another human being to answer a text or cell phone. Through social web sites like Facebook, they have hundreds of "friends," but few deep relationships. Everyone knows what they are doing, but few people really care.
Consequently, they have numerous pseudo-relationships, but no deep ones. They are constantly in contact with others, but they have no personal time. Silence is scary. I'm quite certain most Millenials cannot make it for twenty minutes in silence without feeling uneasy. The iPod, text, or cell is always within reach. The idea of a quiet walk in a park or sitting in a library reading a book for a couple of hours unavailable by phone is a foreign concept.
Also troubling is the blurring line between public and private information. Personal habits, knee-jerk reactions to events, and other private information is immediately available to anyone with a cell phone or web connection. Once that information is in Cyberspace, it is there forever and cannot be withdrawn. Many lives have been forever changed by this kind of impulsiveness and lack of social awareness.
For this reason, Alsop calls Millineals the "exhibitionist generation." They will talk on the phone in front of anyone, about absolutely anything, they will post absolutely anything on their Facebook pages, and for some reason they don't think it is a big deal. Who is dating whom, what you ate for dinner, hate speech, and even sexual encounters show up with disturbing regularity. "Sexting," a practice of taking nude pictures of oneself with a cell phone and sending the photo to friends is showing up even among grade school children. These photos could conceivably be available on the Internet for decades.
As I've said for years, there is nothing inherently wrong with any of these tools (the Net, iPods, iPhones, etc.), but the problem is that Millineals, not to mention many of their parents, don't realize these things are tools. Why else do parents walk around with Bluetooth devices stuck on their ears? Instead of putting them on when they need them, they leave them on just in case somebody might happen to call.
Tools are things you use when you have a job that needs to be done. For example, a chainsaw is a wonderful tool, but I never crank it up and walk around looking for something to cut. I use a chainsaw when I need it and otherwise it is stored in the barn. We get into touble when we use tools carelessly or thoughtlessly.
I remember a time when telephone party lines were common. When my family got our own "single" line in the 1960's and later a phone in the kitchen, it was a big deal. No longer were we bound only to the livingroom to talk and we didn't have to share the line with a stranger. It was novel to pick up the phone any time we wanted and talk to someone. Eventually, however, that newness wore off and the phone became more of the routine tool that it had been when we had a party line.
I predict that in the next ten years Millenials will react
to the inundation of information they experience today and the
absence of depth. They will eschew electronics in favor of face-to-face
contact. There will be a desperate need for privacy - for getting
away from computers, cell phones, and whatever new gadgets help
us communicate in the future. Cell phones, twitter, and other
forms of communication will be with us for a long time, but our
job as parents is to teach our children what they are for and
how to use them responsibly. Help them make good decisions about
how much time to spend on the phone and computer and help them
determine the meaning of the decisions they make. We can start
by being good models with our own use of technology.