We are the first to begin to use adaptive media, and the concept of "sharing" something essentially limitless in number. We have succumbed entirely to the notion of documenting everything and sharing it willy nilly. We have adapted quickly to the merits of crowd-sourcing, and volunteerism too. And yes, we are the first to tune in to twitter when we want news from any situation in the first person, and it's nice to stay connected with old friend through shared media. But we made the mistake of assuming that all this sharing means everyone always wants to see what matters to us, from our point of view, all the time. Sometimes, for an authors words words to have content, they have to speak to what's important to the audience, from your point of view. To discern and sympathize with your intended audience takes foresight, creativity, and conscious effort, and so of course, aimless ego flourishes instead.
We're also the first generation in a long time to be this thoroughly qualified, while facing such low guarantee of work that reflects our skill. There is no promise in the job market, and traditional middle management jobs and accounting positions are some of the most likely to be compromised as management, work and production become increasingly automated. To add to the perfect storm, we've been shackled with debt for our degrees, and are facing no genuine prospects of a career or stability: the fundamental benefits promised to us by "a degree". That means that the bulk of business majors, and many other fields as well, will have to embrace an entrepreneurial spirit, or face a low salary performing undervalued work.
So we are "special" in a sense. We are under special circumstance, as evidenced by the inverse levels of employment, debt, education, and technological advance.
I think in a mix of indulgence and distraction, social media has become a sort of maelstrom of content with no intended audience. It could be due in part to being so desperate to prove that we're as special we were told we were and that everyone should care about us. And it will hurt, as we try to find our place in society where work is scarce, and yet we feel educated and competent. By our parents standards, we are moving slower, despite what our "fast lifestyle" presents. We are getting finding steady jobs, married, buying homes, and having children much later in life. All of these foundational aspects of life "as it has always been" have been removed from us, and financial independence has not quite come for many many young individuals. Debt however, comes too easily, as educations are in high demand and seem like a valid, and necessary investment. They cost us all quite a bit, for this very reason. But now they are high in supply too, so they haven't grabbed the same compensation they once did in the job market, which is already flustering, and cluttered with older workers trying to recover their retirement funds and mortgages after the wool was pulled over their eyes leading up to 2008. What this means is that we are sitting in the crosshairs of a lot of economic tension, with good kids often being sold terrible educations void of and critical thought or value for exorbitant rates, paid for in thousands and thousands of dollars in debt.
I think that as capitalism runs its course, and the entire globe becomes familiar with its face, we might be delivered, or spat out, rather, to the point where we can support and educate ourselves on the human necessities, without the notion of having to prove your worth to "those more qualified". If we treated life a little bit more like the game Monopoly like many capitalists would say they do, I think we'd see drastic improvement. Once everyone has guaranteed income from the start, and when passing "Go", or 1 year, and once we all take part in overseeing the bankers moves, then we can finally all play.
But as a whole, we are far too indulgent and distracted by social media and the entrapment of the internet for this idea of total unconditional support to work. As a generation, we have to collectively decide on how much is enough, because if we don't, we will be supporting each others reckless consumption at the encouragement of those in positions of authority. I don't know if we ever will reach a consensus ourselves, but maybe our foolish behavior and its meticulously and narcissistically hash-tagged documentation will reveal to our children one day how silly it really all is.
In short, we are enlightened in our mechanical ability to throw web, but not in our ability to aim it.
Maybe our children will reject our aimless and noisy lifestyles like we rejected out own parents' fads. But then again, maybe they'll ironically embrace and reinterpret them, again just like we did. Either way, I just hope that our children will learn to appreciate the value of introspection, so that they can find out who their true intended audience really is, and what they really need.
We tend to think that we are the Sol Actor, the center of the universe, and that the world is the audience. But the truth is, from the first person point of view, we have a play with 7 Billion actors. We all need a role, we all have a role, and when all of us are starts, just like Sol, none of us are Stars. We all have our place and purpose, but rarely is it ever in the center. The target is always moving, and so when we have something to say, it stands to reason that we should at least have a target, or someone in mind that we are saying it to.
We have become too overwhelmed and distracted by the capabilities of our new tools to truly consider ourselves the enlightened generation. It's consumed us in many ways. A freshman down the hall just yelled "Hashtag Ithaca, hashtag Ithaca!" as I type this. But I do believe our children will be the ones who refine these tools and take these habits and channel them into more refined hobbies and tastes. In this case, I'm sure whatever they come up with will have amazing implications for information distribution and organization. It's up to us to foster the creative, thoughtful, and generation ahead of us, and do what we can to prevent debt from ensnaring them like it has so many of our own peers.
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