Gen X or Net Gen?

Gen X or NetGen?

So, I'm going through the extreme pileup of things I'm supposed to have read. Technically? Gen X. At least according to this presentation. According to the presentation too, I'm supposed to be into video games, PC, email, CDs, and an individualist. If I'm NetGen (born after 1982, according to this presentation), I'm into the web, cell phones, IMs, MP3s, and Online communities.

Except that, I am into the web, cell phones, IMs, MP3s, and online communities. I've met GenX-ers who are very much GenX-ers, but there does seem to be a blurring there that's often focused on technology applications. Other highlights of the Net Generation include 8 out of 10 saying "it's cool to be smart", focused on grades and performance, identify with parents' values/feel close to parents, and a fascination for new technologies. Of the list of highlights there are only three that I don't feel relate to me; born in or after 1982, gravitating towards group activity (although I'd say that's my introverted side as much as it is any "generation", and respectful of social conventions and institutions. On the last it isn't as if I'm disrespectful of them, but I'm not respectful of them for convention or institutions sake. I tend to mock if they're absurd, and look for things that are practical and workable and if it isn't, then I'll mock.

Now I'll grant them, I'm more likely to email than IM - part of this is dependent on the person I'm communicating with however. If I'm on an IM system, I'm probably more likely to IM than email provided the other person is also on that IM system. I adore my cell phone and love having internet on it, and the capability to email/text etc. I was a late adopter of MP3s, but I don't think I could live without my shuffle now, and probably I'll replace it with a larger player at some point. And of course, what is LiveJournal but an online community? And before that it was message forums, mailing lists, originally, back in the day, the AOL message boards. While I'm not a huge fan of MySpace, it tends to be mostly about the hideous reliability of that site, rather than the idea of an online community of people.

I also look at the Student versus Faculty comfort zones lined out in this report and with the exception of "independent and individual" on the Faculty side, I identify more with the students comfort zones: multitasking, pictures, sounds, video - although I'm equally comfortable with text, the corresponding value on the faculty side - random access, engaging, and spontaneous. I can work with single or limited tasks, but my browser window testifies to my ability to have five things going at once, not to mention if I'm home, there's often television, music, or some other random distraction occurring. I can think linearly, logically, and sequentially, but I'm equally likely to hyperlink my thoughts. I'm rarely disciplined, much to my chagrin, and usually not deliberate...

Anyway, it's an interesting article, but I feel like I'm somewhere in between the two generation stereotypes. I'm not a complete Net Generationer, but particularly when it comes to technology, I'm feel as if I have as much in common with them as I do with my "own" GenX. I also somehow feel like it's a bit of a mistake to associate so many qualities of a generation with their technology application. I grant that it's important, and particularly so when you look at the differences between most NetGen's and Baby Boomers, for instance. But many of us on the tail end of the GenX group had computers in our homes, grew up with the infancy of the world wide web, and the first chat systems. We can't live without our MP3 players or our cell phones, and we multitask as much (and sometimes I think more than) the NetGen students that are starting to come in to classrooms. These reports give this idea that all NetGen students know everything about technology, but what I really find is that, particularly when talking about web interfaces, they don't. I have yet to find a student who admits to having a blog, using tags for entries, or using web services like Delicious or Flickr. Either they're not saying - plausible - or they aren't using. Either way, I'm not convinced the generation stereotype is remotely close to accurate.


This is a repost, but it fits here.