Tech Tools Fostering "Mini Generation Gaps" 322
Hugh Pickens writes "The NY Times has an interesting report on the iGeneration, born in the '90s and this decade, comparing them to the Net Generation, born in the 1980s. The Net Generation spend two hours a day talking on the phone and still use e-mail frequently while the iGeneration — conceivably their younger siblings — spends considerably more time texting than talking on the phone, pays less attention to television than the older group, and tends to communicate more over instant-messenger networks. 'People two, three or four years apart are having completely different experiences with technology,' says Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Research Center's Internet and American Life Project. 'College students scratch their heads at what their high school siblings are doing, and they scratch their heads at their younger siblings. It has sped up generational differences.' Dr. Larry Rosen, a professor of psychology at California State University, says that the iGeneration, unlike their older peers, expect an instant response from everyone they communicate with, and don't have the patience for anything less. 'They'll want their teachers and professors to respond to them immediately, and they will expect instantaneous access to everyone, because after all, that is the experience they have growing up,' says Rosen." Read below for another intra-generational wrinkle.
Another intra-generational gap is the iGeneration comfort in multi-tasking. Studies show that 16- to 18-year-olds perform seven tasks, on average, in their free time — like texting on the phone, sending instant messages, and checking Facebook while sitting in front of the television; while people in their early 20s can handle only six, and those in their 30s about five and a half. "That versatility is great when they're killing time, but will a younger generation be as focused at school and work as their forebears?" writes Brad Smith. "I worry that young people won't be able to summon the capacity to focus and concentrate when they need to," says Vicky Rideout, a vice president at the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Bullshit level: High - Storm likely. (Score:5, Insightful)
I guess I'm Net generation. Except that doesn't sound right for anyone I know of my age group.
Furthermore, I've always adopted the best tools for the job, and ignored blatant fads such as twitter.
As for multi-tasking; Again, not a generation issue, as task switching just interrupts. Texting and facebook updating is a leisure activity, and doesn't mix with work at all.
Concentration used to be good. (Score:1, Insightful)
"I worry that young people won't be able to summon the capacity to focus and concentrate when they need to," says Vicky Rideout, a vice president at the Kaiser Family Foundation.
I once read a story about Einstein. He was walking and thinking about one of his problems and didn't even notice a minor earthquake while he was walking.
Having the ability to concentrate at one time was considered to be an excellent character trait. Now, being able to "multitask" is considered to be a valuable trait. And we all know what the quality of work is of one who flits their attention between multiple activities - crap.
One _chooses_ to stagnate, in large part (Score:4, Insightful)
I'm from the beginning of the 80s...and not only that, I'm from a country that was under Soviet influence. Meaning "radio, telephone and TV" for a few decades; few generations knew nothing else. Till the first half of 90s I knew nothing else.
And yet, when reading TFS, I have a strong impression its description of people born in the 90s and 00s fits nicely to me. I guess in large part because I fully realize "our times were better" is only BS meant to make oneself feel better about youth that has passed or is passing away. And it causes harm by unreasonably valuing the past above present, which is almost universally better. You only have to embrace it (well, I do pick what I want; but the time of introduction doesn't play big role)
Instant response? I don't think so. (Score:5, Insightful)
I thought that one of the benefits of texting was that you don't have to have a response immediately, or even read it immediately.
Patience (Score:5, Insightful)
Younger people scratch their heads in amazement at the things people of my generation and older have done that required supreme patience, whether learning a complex skill or finely crafting a model. This comes right on the heels of lacking discipline. If you can't see the value or take the time to perfect anything, how will you ever get good at anything except the trivial?
Oh, and get off my lawn.
No Need to (Score:3, Insightful)
I worry that young people won't be able to summon the capacity to focus and concentrate when they need to
Doesn't -every- older generation say that? First it was that comic books were killing novels, next it was MTV killing attention spans, now it is multitasking.
The thing is, most young people have no real need to focus and concentrate. With the increased importance placed on education, both high schools and colleges are passing more students because you need a degree to be successful. Just think, a hundred years ago a high school education was all most people needed and people could still be successful without it. Today most people need at least some college or vocational training to do almost anything.
With jobs, it is collective blame, no one person takes the fall usually a small team will take it. There are few occasions where young people really need to focus.
Changing Expectations (Score:2, Insightful)
I suspect their expectations will change once they start communicating about things that can't be answered with OMG LOL.
Regards,
Jason
It was better in the old days... (Score:5, Insightful)
When I was a child, there was no public Internet. In my late teens we had dial-up web sites that would pass messages back and forth with each other as far as a local call would go.
I don't miss those days - I think information should be available more or less instantly 24/7 if possible.
However, the current constant phone texting, Facebook, etc crap is just that, crap. It's electronic substitution for true socializing, and I can't help but feel that when a bunch of people stand around unable to interact with the people in their immediate vicinity because they're texting with someone who couldn't be bothered to actually show up... well, I think there's something wrong with that.
Sometimes the younger generations ARE wrong. I think the problem is these technologies are fad technologies and the people making them popular haven't outgrown them yet.
Call me if the text-aholics of today are still rabidly texting when they're 30.
Too true (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm in my early thirties and I avoid multitasking like the plague. My younger colleagues and siblings seem to have no problems with doing several things at once - but the flip side is they end up doing many things twice simply because they sacrifice focus for versatility. They're so busy trying to do too many things at once that they rarely get anything done properly.
As for being always in contact, I couldn't care less. I'll usually answer as soon as possible, but I have no qualms when it comes to ignoring calls or messages if I'm busy with something, or simply don't feel like talking to someone. I don't expect people to be available on my schedule and see no reason why I am obligated to be always available when it suits them.
Re:Bullshit level: High - Storm likely. (Score:4, Insightful)
Exactly. I was born in the early 1970s and I've used the Net and electronic communications in general since the early-to-mid 1980s. I use text messages. I used to pay much more attention to the TV than I do now.
These distinctions, I think, are artificial at best, and at worst, stereotyping.
Re:Patience (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:One _chooses_ to stagnate, in large part (Score:4, Insightful)
Same here. Born in the USSR in mid-80s, and I've first seen a PC (which was also the first programmable computer to me) in 1995. Cellphones came a lot later, too - I've only got a personal one in 2000. Internet? Don't recall now, but it was late 90s, and even then it was dial-up, payed per-minute, with rather insane prices, which effectively rules out many things (e.g. IM).
And yet, I don't watch TV, I prefer SMS to voice calls (both sending and receiving), and I use IM more often than email.
Then again, my motivation is different than the one claimed in TFA ("expecting immediate response"); for SMS, for example, it's quite the opposite - it doesn't require the person receiving them to pay immediate attention, but lets them respond at leisure. I appreciate when people are considerate of my time like that, and try to be considerate of theirs. And with IM, it's just more convenient, UI-wise, for short messages on no particular topic, compared to email, but also doesn't require immediate reply (as evidenced by the fact that any decent IM network these days lets one send messages to offline users; hey, even MSN/Live learned that trick!).
I also agree with your reasoning as to why you prefer all those things in general. Progress is good; why wouldn't I embrace it?
Calling BS (Score:5, Insightful)
I would like to add this one:
As a member of the "Net Generation", I feel we have tuned ourselves to calling out Bullshit...
We have an ability to figure out that some stuff is the result of marketing vs. actual Buzz. That's why fake "viral videos" are so painful to watch.
Examples:
- Cyber Monday (We know this WAS fake, but stores use it to market now)
- MySpace Buzz (We knew this was dead years ago)
- CNN trying to be "hip" (We saw this from a mile away)
- The ACTUAL relevancy of Twitter vs. what is said on TV (Regis has a twitter account, it's officially uncool)
- 3DTV (A new one from this week due to CES. Seriously, I/We're not feeling it)
Now we can easily add the phrases "iGeneration" and "Net Generation"
We know these phrases are bullshit, but get ready to hear more about it.
Re:The lack of attention span is certainly true! (Score:5, Insightful)
Many of these people born in the 1990s feel that the entire world should instantly respond to them and they get extremely impatient when it doesn't.
Sounds like how teenagers have always been.
Re:It was better in the old days... (Score:5, Insightful)
Let "true socializing" mean socializing with uninteresting people in your local neighborhood and "false socializing" mean socializing within boundaryless global pools of people who share your interests.
My brother has met all kinds of people to go off-roading with in his larger than local sphere. That kind of possibility simply wasn't there before instant messaging made everyone seem closer to their shared interests. I'm certainly no authority on socializing, but I don't believe that there's any social sense of being a human being that's lost when you socialize over a text medium vs in person. If anything, it allows us to socialize with more people than ever before.
Only thing that's not great about it is that we are likely to be more exposed to social networks we do not agree with, which may cause larger conflicts vs smaller isolated instances of ostracization. But that's inherent in the risks of globalization as a whole.
Re:Bullshit level: High - Storm likely. (Score:4, Insightful)
I've always adopted the best tools for the job, and ignored blatant fads such as twitter
What? Sometimes twitter is the best tool for the job. I was born in the mid-80's, and have found twitter to be a great tool for meeting friends at the pub. It is more effective than a facebook update or mass text.
Re:Patience (Score:3, Insightful)
Wait, you don't think WoW is simplistic? I thought everyone was mocking WoW these days ...
And, yes, not being willing to learn the skill of building the model airplane before having fun with it pretty much means "lack of self-discipline", except that's sort of a bad example because there's no actual need to build it yourself these days.
Re:Bullshit level: High - Storm likely. (Score:5, Insightful)
Agreed... my own experience is this article is nonsense and not indicative of such as a whole.
I've been using computers since 1979 (at the schools I went to), started programming in BASIC back then, worked my way up. I'd been using BBS's since the first computer I owned - which was an IBM PC Portable (an IBM XT in a suitcase sized case with amber screen). I was in the first bunch of people to actually use the Internet (I used OS/2 almost exclusively, and we had actual Internet access long before Windows - while Windows users were suckered... I mean stuck with AOL or NetCom). Nowadays, besides the "Net Generation" stuff, I regularly text, IM, use Facebook, read blogs, etc - along with all of the other "iGeneration" stuff. And accessing all my stuff from my phone (TMo G1) when I am not in front of the computer... email, visual voicemail, IM, chat, text messaging, web, Facebook, etc.
So, if this "old dog can learn new tricks" and my friends have as well... I doubt there is any real divide as indicated by the article. But I could be wrong... most of my friends are very tech savvy - but even so, I doubt the "divide" is anything to speak of. Even my mom text messages and such.
Re:Bullshit level: High - Storm likely. (Score:5, Insightful)
As for TV, the quality of programming has gone downhill, even news shows are nothing more than glorified tabloids. Networks that used to have interesting programming has shifted to more crap. Discovery is more about blowing stuff up than explaining science, the History channel seems to be nothing more than WWII and explosions.
Re:Calling BS (Score:5, Insightful)
But that's true of every generation. Just as each generation thinks it invented sex, each generation thinks it invented the sophistication to call bullshit to marketing techniques.
The truth is, pitch tuning is a fine art, and most intelligent people see the bullshit in a sales pitch tuned for someone else. The teenagers wonder why their parents fall for X, while the parents watch their kids fall for why. Urban mocks rural for falling for Z, rural scoffs at urban for falling for W. Everyone thinks they are the one independent thinker in a herd of sheep.
Re:Let me get out my violin... (Score:5, Insightful)
A failure to out grow the "Are We There Yet" syndrome.
Re:Patience (Score:3, Insightful)
Play an old text-based RPG sometime and you'll appreciate being able to just click on something to interact with your environment.
They require the skill and patience of one person to break whatever copy protection exists. After that, everyone else can click an HTTP link to a .torrent file.
Assuming you are able-bodied, you certainly would lack discipline if you used your car to travel 200 feet. This directly compares to people who get all impatient and bent out of shape over not instantly receiving an item or a piece of information that's not really urgent.
The article read more like an editorial to me, like someone's opinion. It did not seem to be a scientific work. If it was supposed to be scientific, they omitted a great deal of data and mentioned nothing of experiments or peer review.
I am not saying you are a particular example of it, but I am amazed at the black-and-white view people are revealing here. The observation that patience and self-discipline are virtues is not a rejection of technology. Keep your car because it is indeed better than a horse or your feet, but recognize that discipline is a good thing whether or not you have to walk 20 miles. Likewise, it's possible to have high technology and instant-nearly-everything without getting upset about having to occasionally wait for something.
What this boils down to is that many people are lazy and immature. Because of that, they won't cultivate a strong character or patient endurance unless the situations of their lives force them to do so. If they are deprived of anything, it's the ability to willingly value such things for their own sake and not just for immediately pragmatic reasons. It makes them little more than products of their environment with little self-determination. Some of us recognize that a human being can be quite a bit more than this and lament the way this realization is underappreciated.
Not even sure this is true (Score:5, Insightful)
The article makes a couple of leaps and doesn't seem to understand tech.
First off, the number of tasks in front of the tv. Is this a generation difference OR an age difference? They seem to claim that young people do more tasks because they are exposed to more modern technology at a younger age. HOWEVER this would ONLY be valid if they KEEP doing this as they get older. Else the conclusion must be that as you get older, you do fewer things at the same time.
And then they claim that instant messaging results in an instant reply. But SMS is NOT instant, voice is. So, if they want an instant reply, why do they send an SMS?
I think the author of the article tries to hard to make connections.
Re:Patience (Score:2, Insightful)
No patience and no discipline - although I agree with you, this is the same thing our parents remarked about us, and their parents about them. But here's another issue: the cheapness, speed and simplicity of obtaining a prefabricated meal, toy, and most other objects means that learning to DIY seems superfluous. Therefore, the deep gratification of being able to consume or use something you created yourself - in a physical sense - has been lost. IMO these are the first years of human society shifting the search for personal gratification into the "virtual reality" - an old and abused expression, but somehow appropriate. Nerds already did find it there - they are creative in it. But the rest of people - how will it be?
Re:Bullshit level: High - Storm likely. (Score:0, Insightful)
mod parent up. seriously, since when has the necessity of ones actions depended on someone else's opinion?
Re:Let me get out my violin... (Score:5, Insightful)
That's OK, they'll get their comeuppance when they go into the workforce and find management also expects instantaneous access to them -- 24/7/365.
Re:Calling BS (Score:3, Insightful)
You do realize, don't you, that you have described a skill that, like being able to tell the difference between the Olsen twins, is completely useless?
Try instead to learn to tell the difference between marketing and buzz versus information of actual value.
Oh, and hint: Mary-Kate is usually the one looking directly at the camera.
Re:Bullshit level: High - Storm likely. (Score:3, Insightful)
... A text message is probably cheaper than a voice call ...
Well, I can tell you're not in the USA.
Re:Bullshit level: High - Storm likely. (Score:5, Insightful)
glorifying manual labor
TV = leisure.
When most people are working in a factory, they want to come home and dream of the stars.
When most people are in the educated middle class, they play with the stars at work, realise not every day's a Moon landing, and want to come home and dream of actually being able to build something in a weekend that works.
It's not that leisure is dumbing down per se, it's that work requires you to be less dumb than ever before. Entertainment is a break from that.
Re:Instantly communcation indeed (Score:4, Insightful)
Interest isn't relevant.
Do they want to learn? (Hopefully) Do the professor have the knowledge? (Hopefully) Do the professor have time to have one-on-one discussions with every singel student? (Unlikely)
Maybe they will have to get used to not recieving instant gratification, or learn some things the hard way.
Re:Bullshit level: High - Storm likely. (Score:3, Insightful)
Having been classified as ADHD in the early 70's it's so nice to finally get my revenge now that everyone has been infected with the damn Attention Deficit Syndrome.
Exactly. The things we do in front of the computer now are inherently multitasked. That doesn't mix well with not inherently multitasked things we do, like having a spoken conversation with someone.
When you browse, code, write an email, etc. all at once, you do the scheduling. When someone starts talking to you, you have two options: a) schedule them in with the rest, and make them believe you're not paying attention (and/or are unable to, hence ADHD), or b) throw your whole state of mind out the window, and listen to their highly informative and productive inane ramblings.
Extrapolated a whole generation from his 2-yr-old (Score:3, Insightful)
I've got to say, this sort of behaviour just reinforces the common view of psychology as mostly worthless generalisations and unsupported theory.
WHERE ARE THE NUMBERS?
Let's see a proper study, using statistically valid numbers of subjects - taken from all races, creeds, famiily backgrounds and nationalities. Then there's be something worth discussing. Until then this is just a "aren't my children are wonderful" monolog. Boring.
Re:Bullshit level: High - Storm likely. (Score:3, Insightful)
(I couldn't help it, sorry
Re:Progress is good; why wouldn't I embrace it? (Score:3, Insightful)
and don't forget:
D) on a 12 key pad the UI is so bad that it isn't worth the bother to try to send a SMS.
Re:Bullshit level: High - Storm likely. (Score:4, Insightful)
A high schooler will use IM because they, and all their friends, go to school and come home at the same time - everybody's there - and because they can discuss forbidden topics without it being obvious to parents. A college student or recent grad will be much more interested in the FB/Twitter update experience as they plan their evenings. And someone with a home and kids will appreciate that using a phone as a phone means that your hands are free and your eyes are not occupied - so you can spot when the three-year-old is about to see if daddy's PS3 likes carrots.
Re:Instantly communcation indeed (Score:3, Insightful)
I can see collaborative social media overtaking a lot of traditional education. But telling professors to "use Twitter" will *not* be any use for anyone.
Getting professors to blog, perhaps giving students a window onto the ongoing process of research (as opposed to the sanitized version they can read in journals) might be a step.
Did I say getting? Hmm, professors seem to professionally blog more any than anyone else already (except VCs, startup founders, and a few other niche professions).
Re:One _chooses_ to stagnate, in large part (Score:2, Insightful)
And yet, I don't watch TV, I prefer SMS to voice calls (both sending and receiving), and I use IM more often than email.
Then again, my motivation is different than the one claimed in TFA ("expecting immediate response"); for SMS, for example, it's quite the opposite - it doesn't require the person receiving them to pay immediate attention, but lets them respond at leisure. I appreciate when people are considerate of my time like that, and try to be considerate of theirs.
I think this is an important point. A phone call is inherently disruptive, and demands immediate attention from the person you are calling. In my opinion, an SMS is a much more polite way to communicate something less than urgent.
Marketers want you to be independent (Score:1, Insightful)
Speaking as someone peripherally involved in marketing, let me say that we love to cultivate the notion that you are an independent, autonomous, and free-thinking individual. This is because about the only pure act of will possible in a peaceful society that's been largely drained of the sort of conflict that would otherwise serve as outlets for self expression is a financial transaction, so self-expression always takes the form of a purchase of a good. Yes, always. It's simply a question of whose goods you will be buying to construct your self-image. Naturally, I'd prefer that you associate my products with positive notions like autonomy and independence so you'll choose them and not my competitors. The alternative, of course, is to buy some land and raise chickens somewhere, in which case you've simply exited my particular market (creative/expressive/alternative) and are now a consumer in the self-reliant/survivalist/rural market.
Re:The lack of attention span is certainly true! (Score:3, Insightful)
Sounds like how teenagers have always been.
No, the difference is that there's now a whole world of stuff and people out there that will respond to them instantly. Until recently, you could want that, but unless you were rich enough to have servants and had parents who let you give them orders, you couldn't get that.
This is a step up from five hours a day passively watching TV.
Re:Bullshit level: High - Storm likely. (Score:3, Insightful)
You have to admit, annoying as it is, the situational awareness fostered by this (you can only smack into an obstacle so much before you start paying attention) is not a bad thing to have.
Re:Bullshit level: High - Storm likely. (Score:3, Insightful)
What does modding cars have to do with science? Well to fully understand how an engine works and how to extract the most power out of it you have to know a hell of a lot of science, across a broad range of disciplines. "Pimp My Ride" doesn't really qualify of course.