I wonder what it must have been like when television first came out. Obviously there were many who eagerly looked forward to it, and upon getting one for themselves, thoroughly enjoyed the heck out of it.
Losing it would have been akin to ripping out a good chunk of themselves. They believed that from this moment onward, television was now forever ingrained into the social consciousness and had impacted it like no other before it.
And they were right.
So now I wonder what it was like for those before television came out. Could they have ever imagined the world that followed? Would they see it as a good thing or a bad one? Certainly television had its critics and detractors when it first came out. And it still does, today.
And then I wonder about the generations who grew up with television simply as a matter of fact. It's always existed, and seems like it always will. There's nothing even scandalous or thought-provoking about it; it simply is a part of life at this point.
Oh wait, I don't have to think what it'd be like to be that generation. I'm already part of it.
Generation Gap
There are three generations who deal with every new medium that arises. Those who already have developed their lifestyle and worldviews before it arrived; those who are still shaping their lifestyles when it comes out, and those who grow up with it already an integral part of their world.
The majority of people today fall into the 3rd generation in regards to television. It is something that was there when they were born, so as they learned about their world the TV set was merely just another part of it.
And yet, when it comes to the Internet only many of us are 2nd gen; we remember what life was like when the Internet just came out. We marvel at its novelty and potential use, but we can certainly relate to living without it. It's not so difficult; we did so for many years before the World Wide Web became "a thing."
And then there are today's youth who are now the Internet's 3rd generation. They've grown up in a world that's Web-connected, and so cannot relate to a life without it. Taking away their access to the Web is just like taking away our access to TV.
If that still doesn't seem convincing, how about also blocking off radio? Or books? Imagine taking away a bratty child's ability to read anything. Now it seems sacrilegious; deny a child their learning?
But if you were to make that notion a couple centuries after Gutenberg's press nobody would bat an eye. Why yes, that child has been antisocial and buried in matters unimportant to life. He's not doing his chores or selling wares. That book is destroying his personal integrity and making him more immoral every day.
So goes the standard reasons for taking away access to Facebook, MTV, The Lone Ranger radio show, or any book.
Kids These Days
Normally the harshest of these criticisms comes from the 1st generation, those who've never developed their lifestyle around the new medium. They perceive it as a threat to the values they've grown up with; and in some senses they are right, and in others they're completely unfounded.
Has Facebook, TV, radio, and books kept us from playing outside? Yes. Have they allowed us to communicate ideas across the globe and expand our worldviews? Yes, too.
But these benefits are long-term, not short-term. The only short-term to come is change, and to those who've already cemented how they think the world should be, change is a wrecking ball. And whenever you see a wrecking ball come towards you, you fear it.
Meanwhile the 2nd generation is still in the process of building their worldview, and to them emerging mediums appear like a tool of incredible new convenience. This tool allows them to build faster, better, and with more fun along the way. They love their new tool, and embrace how it has radically changed their lives. They see life before the tool as boring and slow compared with what they've been able to accomplish with it.
And of course the 3rd gen doesn't see a wrecking ball, or a new tool, they just see yet another object in a world they've been born into. Seen one, seen them all. So they don't look at new mediums with the trepidation or novelty that the other generations do.
When the 1st generation sees the 3rd generation blindly using the new medium, the elders look at the youngsters with scorn. These kids seemingly waste away their lives into these new mediums, ignorant of the world around them. There's so much else out there, but the 3rd generation doesn't appear to care in the slightest.
Meanwhile the 2nd generation sees the 3rd generation with disdain, for clearly the youth do not fully appreciate the "gift" they now possess. They cannot know what it was like to not have that tool that now makes life so much easier and richer. Things used to be so much harder! Things could be so much more difficult! They should view their "playthings" with more humble perspective.
And of course the 3rd generation sees the 1st and 2nd ones with dismissive apathy. They literally cannot imagine a world without the medium in their hand, so why bother trying to? The medium is in their hands now and always will be, so what's the problem? If anything, it's just a matter of time before something even newer and better comes around.
It's Not About Perspective, But Experience
So is any one generation wrong? No. Is any one right? Nope.
Fear of change, clinging to nostalgia, and taking things for granted are all negative traits. But on that same token, remembering what else the world has to offer, the perspective before & after, and not being so caught up in things as to not anticipate what's next are all positive traits as well.
It happened with books. Why bury your head in one when there's an actual world out there? You don't know what it's like, being able to record ideas and actually be able to pass them on reliably. And yeah, these books are cool, but what about books we could broadcast? Now that'd be something.
And if it happened with books, it'll happen with the Web and the Internet as a whole.
Which generation do you think you fall under, or do you think you even overlap a couple?
Amendment: 8-4-2014
I found a quote from Douglas Adams (of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy fame, to say the least) that also neatly summarizes this:
I've come up with a set of rules that describe our reactions to technologies:
- Anything that is in the world when you're born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural part of the way the world works.
- Anything that's invented between when you're fifteen and thirty-five is new and exciting and revolutionary and you can probably get a career in it.
- Anything invented after you're thirty-five is against the natural order of things.