Reports about the use of technology by Millennials usually center on their ownership and their use. For example, one article titled "Generation Y precedes GenX in Technology Alphabet," quotes that Millennials spend more time online than they do watching television and that, "Nine out of 10 Gen Yers own a PC, and 82 percent own a mobile phone, according to the study from Cambridge, Mass.-based Forrester Research."[1] Yes, but the bigger question is: "what do they do with this technology? Are they passive consumers or active producers? Are they prosumers? Or do they simply Facebook, text, and watch Youtube videos? In another essay titled "Access to Technology Defines Generation Y; Molds Outlook," the Editor in Chief, Airan Scruby, very simply states that, "Generation Y also watched the defining tragedy of their generation, the events of Sept. 11th, 2001, live on television." Please. 9/11, terrorism, and the war on Iraq are undoubtedly the events that mark the historical presence of the Millennials, but on 9/11/2001, they were between the ages of 20 and 1. The global consciousness so often attributed to this event and to the rise of the Internet began much earlier, with the televised landing on the moon, the Vietnam War, and the fall of the Berlin Wall. While there is no doubt that the World Wide Web heightened and facilitated global connections, and that Millennials have grown up in this connected environment, Generation Xers have already been defined as the first global nomads by sociologists (Michel Maffesoli) and magazine editors (Tyler Brule of Wallpaper) alike. Xers physical and philosophical nomadism did not only consist of rejecting a collective consciousness, but they embraced a do-it-yourself individualism that has changed many parts of contemporary art and life. As Jeff Gordinier, author of X Saves the World, eloquently remarks: "technology [gave] Xers the chance to inhabit the I and we at the same time" (128). They changed the world by embracing a more participatory, DIY culture and language.
Studies repeatedly call the Millennials, the most tech savvy of any generation, because of their habit-altering uses of cell phones and computers. Yes, Millennials are using more technology than any other generation. Yes, their changing habits are redefining the way we do business, the way we educate, and the way we relate to one another. But while many Millennials, now in their twenties and thirties, are contributing to the changing face of a tech-entrenched society, most of them use technology in passive and uncritical fashions. Most of our understanding and translation of new media technologies into new models of meaning-making was actually enabled and is still being led by Generation Xers and second generation Baby Boomers. We may not constitute the largest group of users of text messaging systems or social networking sites (although the numbers are rapidly increasing), and we may not have been texting in the crib, but because we witnessed the growth and impact of new media technologies, we recognize more readily the critical and creative potential and dangers of new media.
Studies repeatedly call the Millennials, the most tech savvy of any generation, because of their habit-altering uses of cell phones and computers. Yes, Millennials are using more technology than any other generation. Yes, their changing habits are redefining the way we do business, the way we educate, and the way we relate to one another. But while many Millennials, now in their twenties and thirties, are contributing to the changing face of a tech-entrenched society, most of them use technology in passive and uncritical fashions. Most of our understanding and translation of new media technologies into new models of meaning-making was actually enabled and is still being led by Generation Xers and second generation Baby Boomers. We may not constitute the largest group of users of text messaging systems or social networking sites (although the numbers are rapidly increasing), and we may not have been texting in the crib, but because we witnessed the growth and impact of new media technologies, we recognize more readily the critical and creative potential and dangers of new media.
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