Generation Hexed

So Morgs sends me this e-mail earlier today:

Bennie,

I'm bored right now and was dong a lot of thinking about this (No, I have no life, in case you were wondering).

I've been reading alot about pop culture, and how different
generations were defined by different zeitgeists (the 80's - greed, self-absorbtion, the 90's - Gen-x and the percieved "Slackers", etc.)

What do think OUR generation (our generation being defined as anyone born in between, let's say '75 and '85, for arguments sake) would be defined as? As I said, I've been doing lots of thinking about this and can't put my finger on it..would it have something to do with the rise of the internet? Maybe the "isolated generation," with the internet, cell phones, PDA's? The Clone Generation (although we need to see the highly anticipated "Morg-horse" for this to happen).

I don't know what our generation would be defined as, what do you think?

Morgs


And my response, rambling though it may be…

Damn good question, man. I guess it's harder to slap a label on yourself than it is on others, but as you said the generations that came before us didn't seem to have much trouble with it.

I would definitely say that our generation is defined by our reliance on technology and even more so the vast overflow of information that has come with it. We are constantly bombarded with breaking news updates, partisan political bickering and celebri-porn gossip, and thus we have become a generation predicated on cynicism. We are the both the smartest and the dumbest generation ever. Loads of information, the culmination of ten thousand years of human experience, at our fingertips, but no will to use it.

Our parents’ generation(we’ll call them the Baby Boomers)’s youth was spent breaking away from society's preconceived notions, splitting from the norm, questioning authority and celebrating individuality. Conversely, our generation has been brought up by the Boomers being told that the world is our oyster, that our future is ours to take and that anything we want can be ours if we set our mind to it.

Unfortunately, this freedom of choice has led to a generation of individuals without structure, without a set of expectations or preconceived goals based on social status or familial obligations. To adhere to your parents' ideas for your future is to give in to expectations, to relinquish the freedom of choice that is so imperative to proving one's worth in our generation. You're labeled a sell out. You're seen as giving up on your dream or settling for a suit-and-tie gig--when in previous generations a suit-and-tie gig was as good as it got.

We are force-fed this idea from birth that somehow the previous generation is to be one-upped, to be bettered (probably a hold-over from Depression-era kids--our grandparents--who had nowhere to go but up) and that while they had to settle for the status quo, the sky is the limit for us to pursue our dream, our own personal happiness at the expense of society at large.

A functioning society needs workers, not just dreamers. It needs guys that will go to the factory and break their backs for 10 hours a day for an honest wage to pay for their kids’ education. It needs firemen and policemen and teachers that will take a lower salary in the public sector because they know they are benefiting the greater good. It needs small business owners that are more interested in providing jobs and services for a community than planning their IPO or waiting for a corporate buy-out.

But a society of specialized private education and drive-thru divorce and $100 million lottery winners has stripped our generation of the belief in public works, of the idea that a community can be strengthened by the collective motivation of the individuals, and that the individual can in turn be strengthened by the community. This has been replaced with the lofty idealism of empty promises.

It is this dichotomy--idealism vs. cynicism--that really defines our generation, i think. We believe that we can be anything we set our mind to but lack the single-mindedness to carry it out. Thus we are a lost generation, both separated and drawn together by our far-reaching technology and our pseudo-inclusively. We have never in our history been more connected globally and more distanced locally—case in point, I know the names of the reporters on BBC News, but not my next door neighbor.

So still after all this rambling, i still haven't really hit upon what to call us. The Stasis Age? Too broad. Generation Zzzzzzz? Too glib. Techno-boomers? Maybe…but not quite.

Whatever the case, i know this...it ain't as easy as they told us it would be...but it ain't as hard as we think it is.

b


So now I’m asking you, dear reader. We must be compartmentalized, categorized, labeled and filed, goddammit! If it’s good enough for those Gen-X slackers, its good enough for us. I'm leaning towards "Techno-boomers" but i know there must be something better…any thoughts?