In general, people are very sceptically of younger generations. I am not immune to this phenomenon and often find myself shaking my head in bafflement (or annoyance) at the seemingly unruly and rambunctious under grads at my university. I feel as if it was a lifetime ago that I was their age (even though it has only been 5 years), and I am not sure how to relate to them, or even if I care to do so in the first place.
However, it would be foolish to underestimate this generation.
Even more so than myself, at the age of 28, this generation has completely integrated social media and networking technologies into their lives. Sure, I have a pretty good grasp on these things, and am actively trying to learn more, but these kids breath social media, and the technological tools are an extension of their own bodies.
Sure, there are times when this is a bad thing (do they really need to whip out their cell phones and openly start text messaging in class? At least my generation has the sense to be discreat). But overall, this younger generation will be the key to taming the wild beast of social media.
Right now, we are passengers on this social media roller coaster-- trying like mad to understand it and figure out the best ways to utilize it. But what seems like a giant roller coaster to us, is more like a kiddy ride at the county fair to the younger generation. So it is no surprise to realize that they will likely be the ones to solve the major issues that have cropped up throughout this revolution-- mainly, issues of privacy, transparency, and the effective gathering and distribution of information.
This revolution all started with the idea that these technologies were in place to protect us. However, things quickly spiraled out of control. We now find that the very things we thought were in place for our protection are actually the things from which we need to safeguard ourselves. (For example, consider medical files-- an aggregated system that allows all of our medical information to be accessible from one source seems like a good thing- but how do we maintain and securing that record, and is it safe to have all of our eggs in one basket?)
These are issues that we will continue to grapple with. But I imagine that it will be the younger generation- those to which social media and new technologies are second nature- that will ultimately be able to put a harness on this beast.
Don't get me wrong... I am not about to let those undergrads out shine me... but I can at least start having a little more faith in them, even if i feel like I can't relate.
For more on this topic, check out Lawrence Lessig's speech 2008 speech at the University of Chicago Law School.
