Posted by
Young Republican on Wednesday, November 25, 2009 10:28:26 AM
I wonder what will be the contribution from my generation to the next. What will the world be like with a higher influence in technology and globalization and how will we respond to the challenges the world has given us. In truth, unless we do some major growing up, nothing. I have never seen a generation more enthralled with themselves than the one I'm a part of. Of course, social networking popularity could be called a form of narcissism. After all with all the MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter options out there, how much mirror reflection is necessary? Looking at the social trends and the importance, young people put on them they actually have two separate lives, one their actual and one their virtual. And both are considered equally important, if not the virtual winning out. After all we all our "friends" and "followers" we have to keep them entertained.
And that leads me to the new social interactions that take place face to face, seeming to get worse with each passing year. When I was kid (and mind you I'm 22) when I didn't like someone or someone didn't like me we didn't talk to each other. When I broke up with my ex-girlfriend, I didn't talk to her except for polite conversation about family whenever we ran into each other. Now with this younger crop, they're friends with their enemies and enemies with their friends. They facebook each other, follow each other's tweets and call and text each other constantly. What at first I thought of as an oddity, I came to realize through dozens of interactions was actually the new norm. It is now common for couples to break up and get back together that they make Chandler and Janet on "Friends" seem like the Reagans. I have seen many teenagers, scream into phones, crying and screaming curse words with some horrible people and yet that offending number never gets deleted.
Why is this? Well to answer simply, many young people are living in their own soap opera. They need the drama and the attention that goes along with it. They need it to play out to an audience which is why "Facebook" fights and "tweets" are the new version of a school yard fight, if school happens to be out at the time. Meanwhile, friends pick teams with no one wanting to get off the field. Breakups, relationships, and cheating give the necessary angst needed for some feeling of self importance. In short the young and the restless are the "Young & the Restless".