Generation X: generation born after the Western post World War II baby boom ended genearlly including people born in the 1960s through the late '70s, sometimes as late as the early '80s, usually no later than 1981 or 1982.
Generation Y: members, who are commonly cited as born between 1982 or 1983 to the mid 1990s or early 2000s.
Generation Z: (aka Generation M), the Net Generation, or the Internet Generation. This generation is highly connected, and for the purposes of this post, M refers to Multitasking. "Lifelong use of communications and media technologies such as the World Wide Web, instant messaging, text messaging, MP3 players, mobile phones and YouTube".
I am writing this post right after I recorded my first official podcast, it can be seen here:
"The Wired Life: The Public and Private Spheres of the Gen M Community" by Klapperstuck and Kearns talks about how Gen M has not replaced older formats of media for newer ones but rather that they have added new formats to older ones essentially in a combination. For example, Gem M still watches TV but do so while texting their friends, doing homework on the computer, and using the internet. It is changing the rules of etiquette and of the conception of "rudeness" in terms of members of Gen M being together in the same physical space and yet are connected to others through media sources. This is seen in the example made in the article where two people are sitting in the library not breaking any rules of etiquette or ignoring each other but are texting their other friends and listening to MP3's.
"To those outside of Generation M this may seem either rude or unnecessary."
This quote was extremely interesting to me. Although I may have been born right at the cusp of the ending of Generation Y and the beginning of Generation M, I have definitely assimilated into Generation M's culture. Thus, through this analysis, I am beginning to step into the metaphorical shoes and lenses of my parents and what they see of this new generation that can never seem to pay attention amidst the sea of stimuli.
Another key difference in generations is their perception (and reaction) to privacy. Generation M's attitudes about privacy differ a lot more than the previous generations' attitudes as discussed in the article. Geneneration M is "less concerned about being targeted by advertising and do not feel that ad targeting is a form of invasion, rather that they want 'ads to speak to them' indicating a huge divide.
And the final change is essentially what you are reading right here, right now. Blogs becoming the new diaries and journals. Apparently according to Goodstein's research in 2007, more than half of the blogs are written by teens. Gen M is about creating and sharing t
heir lives online. This is also seen through social activism. An example of this is my voting once a day for Gracehaven Home Inc., a Christian organization that provides shelter and rehabilitation to girls under the age of 18 who have been victims of commercial sexual exploitation, via Facebook on vivint.givesback. This a way that Geneneration M moves from local to global. This is a way for our generation to actively overcome the "apathetic" and "rude" labels that are placed upon us by the older generations.I will leave you with a quote by Klapperstuck and Kearns, "adults tend to use the Web as a supplement to real-world activities while teenagers tend to ignore the difference between online and offline."
So.. is online life an extension of one's own life or is it a supplement to real-world activities?
Great example of the social activism that is positively associated with GenM. And your final question is one that I think about often ... and am not certain I've resolved for myself. danah boyd, a researcher for Microsoft, sees it as an extension. She points out that so many parents are scared for teens to be out unsupervised that they have taken the mall hangouts of the 80s and 90s online. Follow @zephoria on Twitter if interested!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your podcast, David...thanks for sharing your music and your ideas. It was interesting for me to read, for example, how even as a young man, you're beginning to see some of these issues related to everyday technology in ways that feel a bit like how you imagine your parents reacted to you back in the day. I have to think that making the effort to see things through the perspective of another can only be a good thing, and will lead to more useful reflection as you seek ways of navigating these issues with your own students.
ReplyDeleteOn the topic of activism, I thought you might enjoy seeing Sparked, a "micro-volunteering" site that uses cell phone technology to connect people with small tasks that they can do for others. Interesting stuff...
Where does Generation Y put us? I'm not like K&K where I look at Generation M with an almost ethnographical quality, but my own technology habits are not as extensive. Still, I tweet and blog and Facebook and am totally getting a smartphone this month when my contract expires.
ReplyDeleteI think that Generation Y means that we still know what life was like before the internet became in widespread use. I don't take an internet connection for granted (especially in my apartment) nor have I stopped seeing value in actually having a telephone conversation with someone.
Do you think the habits of Generation M are bad? If so, could they get worse? Remember the people in "Wall-E?"