The iGeneration

What do you think is the greatest fault and greatest strength of our generation?



According to the Almighty Wikipedia, there are several names by which those of us born during the years from 1983 to 1994 are called - Generation Y, the Echo Boomers, the Millennials. My favorite, personally, is the "iGeneration." Our generation is defined by our consumption of the instantaneous. We are attracted to products that advertise ease of communication and instant gratification. We can download movies in minutes, songs in seconds and make plans for the evening faster than you can say T9. Our generation is defined by an über-connectivity that has made us the most educated, communicative, and technologically-savvy generation ever.

And if you don't mind minimizing your Facebook chat for a minute, I'd like to explain why this connectivity encompasses both the greatest strength and the greatest downfall of the iGeneration.

Our creative drive, aided by an infinity of outlets, defines us as a generation. We are a generation that does not feel bound by institution or traditional societal structure. Because of exponentially-advancing technology, we can do whatever we want with out lives, within the law of course. Growing up with the Internet at our hands has enabled us to become experts in arguably the greatest movement in our society today. Businesses are getting younger. Baby boomers are retiring. And the most skilled people in the working world are no longer the most experienced. The old saying goes "you can't teach an old dog new tricks." Well we are the puppies, and the tricks we know are changing the world. Whether it be grassroots campaign fundraising, getting the word out about major issues like the environment or Darfur or the Jena 6, or producing the next viral video hit - our generation is doing alot more than previous generations have had the opportunity to do at our age. Our creative minds are behind a lot of the change happening in an increasingly globalized society.

But I also think that the creative, sky-is-the-limit mindset is having some negative effects on our generation too. We are at a point in our lives where we want to free ourselves from the binds of childhood and escape the traditions of older generations that have "held us down" for so long. Our generation has developed a certain arrogance that has branched off from that natural feeling of growing up - where we know we are instigating change, and we don't really feel like the values of our parents or grandparents really apply anymore. We seek easier, more convenient methods of moral exercise, just like we do with all other aspects of our lives.

My worry is that, if our generation tends to buck tradition in favor of convenience, we will forget where we came from. It is easy in an increasingly interconnected society to pretend like where our parents and grandparents came from isn't really relevant anymore, but we have to have perspective. We may be the best-educated, most technologically-savvy generation ever, but we must have a respect for those who came before us, and understand that it was the work of previous generations that led us to where we are today.