This is the ADD Generation

Hello, and welcome to my first posting as a "real" blogger (assuming that my Myspace blog doesn't count - though many if not all of those posts will soon be imported). I have used the term "ADD Generation" to refer to "my" generation to for some time, and since it's been on my mind, I decided to make it the name of my blog. But the very act of naming a generation (as was done, for example, with the Beat Generation) raises some fun and interesting questions: what is a generation? How is one defined? How big or small must a generation be? Is there any meaning to the concept at all? It is these questions that I would like to address in my inaugural post. To begin with, I define a generation as a cohort of individuals born within a given time frame. For example, the U.S. Census Bureau defines someone as a Baby Boomer if they were born in the years 1946-1964, although this definition is certainly subject to dispute. In fact, as I will repeat again and again, the question of birth years must pervade any discussion of the meaning of a generation. How many birth years should be included in a generation? How do we go about choosing these years? Must all generations be of equal length, or can they be subject to variation? Now, I do not propose to answer these questions. I merely wish to use them as a springboard for a discussion of some of my ideas on the subject, and hopefully others will participate in this discussion as well (I have set my blog to allow anyone to comment, and you can do so anonymously - that said, if I know you personally, I really would appreciate it if you would leave your name with your comment). As I see it, the concept of a generation is associated with a few (possibly) distinct phenomena: 1) pop culture 2) U.S. politics (I'm restricting this discussion to generations in the U.S. only) 3) major world events Further, the relevance and timing of these phenomena are dependent on the age of a cohort when it is exposed to them. A highly salient example concerns computers and the internet. When the baby boomers were growing up, computers were enormous things that were only owned by the government, and maybe some scientists and high-tech corporations. When my mother was in college, in the early 70s, she had to create computer programs using carefully arranged punch-cards (just like Apu, in the Simpsons episode where he becomes a U.S. citizen). Further, she had to sign up for access time, and as an undergrad, the only hours available to her were in the middle of the night. PCs came out in the 80s, and the first one to arrive in my house came sometime in the early 90s. My birth year being 1984, that means that I was at most 8 or 9 years old when we got a PC, and access to the internet soon followed. Of course, there has been a great deal of rapid development since then. Facebook came out when I was a freshman in college (quick note: I had it earlier than most, because it was originally launched exclusively at my school), YouTube when I was a sophomore, and by the time I was a senior, everybody was talking about "Web 2.0." Computers have played an important role in the lives of most Americans, but I grew up in a world of computers, and they have therefore been an essential element influencing my perception of the world. And the next generation, well, they're growing up now, putting their lives on YouTube for all to see with nary a qualm. Part of the idea that I am struggling with is how generational cut-offs come to be agreed upon, if indeed they ever do. I might say that my generation consists of the people born between 1980 and 1989 or so. Why? Because at this moment, that would include almost all of my close friends. All of these people lived through the elder Bush's presidency, though they barely remember it, and through the Clinton and second Bush presidencies, which have both made a considerable impact on them. They were 12-21 years old when 9/11 occurred, 14-23 when the Iraq War began, and all of them can vote in the historic 2008 elections - for some, this will be their first time casting a ballot. This is the generation that I call the ADD Generation - the generation that is addicted to video games, cable TV, The Daily Show, The Simpson, Family Guy and Adderall. We use our cell phones to check the time, and we entertain ourselves constantly with our Ipods, Blackberries, and now the Iphone. We spend hours online every day, on Facebook, Myspace, Wikipedia, YouTube, etc. etc. We've known the internet for (practically) all of our lives. and we are so over-stimulated that we can't pay attention to anything for longer than five minutes. This is the ADD Generation. I will now the outlines of a theory on how generational identity emerges and develops. I refer to my generation, as well as the generation of my parents (always an important influence on any generation, I would argue), that of the Baby Boomers. Their parental generation was "The Greatest Generation" - the one that fought in World War II. An interesting topic to take up is what happens to the generations in between the parents and the children, and how the parental streams of influence oscillate over time - but that is for another time. The remainder of this discussion focuses on the development of a generation, in the most generic sense. Read on, if you're still interested... For the purposes of this discussion, I am breaking the periods of a person's life into broad phases. These age ranges are admittedly arbitrary. Early childhood (ages 0-5 or so): no one really remembers this stage of their lives (and what they do remember tends to be highly personal and idiosyncratic), so most events that occur during this time are out of the generational picture. However, that does not stop them from coloring our lives - they are the givens of our world as we begin to construct it. I don't remember the falling of the Berlin Wall, but the cold war has always been a thing of the past for me. Late childhood (6-11): This is when we begin to form our perceptions of the world, and consequently when "the generation" begins. At this stage, it is mostly the TV shows we watched (at least for the past few generations) that influence perception, with a small effect of major political and world events. I used to watch Full House re-runs, lots of the Simpsons, Home Improvement...years later, when a member of your generation refers to one of these shows (ok, perhaps excluding the Simpsons), you know that you are in the same generation if you get the reference. The first political event that I remember is the election of Bill Clinton to the presidency, and this memory is vague. Other events barely had an impact at all. Adolescence and the high school years (12-17): This is a crucial period in the formation of a generation. We don't create any of the culture, but we become its most avid and lucrative consumers. Music, in particular, and pop culture more generally are perhaps most important during this phase. By the time I came of age, grunge was just about dead, although it was still being played on the radio station that I listened to (Q101 in Chicago - it used to be cool!). Third Eye Blind, I hesitate to admit, was an early favorite of mine. Radiohead's OK computer came out when I was 13. This period also saw the popularity of Britney Spears, The Backstreet Boys, Blink 182, Limp Bizkit and Matchbox Twenty. These were not groups that I enjoyed, but their salience to members of my generation cannot be denied. Perhaps my preference for backdating my generation to 1980 is due to the fact these elders had been listening to Nirvana and Pearl Jam when they were fresh and new - although those bands were certainly of a different generation, the generation in between: Generation X. As far as major events go, this period of my life was marked by the Clinton impeachment, the contested election of 2000, and the most salient event of all: the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11th, 2001. There can be no question that this event made a powerful impression on everyone in "my" generation. The college years (roughly ages 18-22): I believe that whether or not one chooses to attend college, this age remains somewhat distinct from the later twenties. Neurobiologists claim that our brains do not truly finish developing until somewhere in the ages 21-23. These are tumultuous times for anyone in this age category. This is the period when a generation begins its dialog with the nation as a whole, although it is usually dismissed as hopelessly idealistic and naive, or else as apathetic and uncaring (ahem, Generation X, ahem...). And on the level of pop culture, the generation starts to produce as well as consume the music and culture. As an example of what I mean, consider that the first Baby Boomers turned 18 in 1964. Actually, many of the artists who most influenced them were not truly of their generation - this is generally true, as the generation has little control over its identity until sometime during this phase, when it begins to define itself. For me, the Iraq War and the height of partisan fervor (and Republican incompetence) occurred during this period - one which I am only now on the cusp of completing. Young adulthood (23-30): the generation begins to make real contributions to society, but usually begins at the bottom of the heap, doing grunt work for the older folks. However, this is also the final period when generational identity can still be molded - by the time we turn 30, our generation's image and flavor have been established. It is also the time when our generation affects the one on our heels - or perhaps the time when half of the generation leads the other half. To return to the Boomer example, the eldest Boomers turned 23 in 1967 - the year of Monterey pop and the "Summer of Love." In my opinion, 1967 marks the first year when the full weight of the baby boom culture was felt in America as a whole, and concerns about the generation gap, etc., occurred. I look forward to finding out what my generation will do, although much of it has already happened, or is underway. Middle adulthood (31-45): the generation begins to have a real influence on politics, business, and the professions. They raise marry, raise children (for the most part), have divorces, and work their way up the ladder. The once "radical" notions of the generation become more mainstream - I look forward to this period as a time when, for example, outright racism will be an anomaly (I do not think we will ever be entirely rid of this scourge) and when bias against homosexuals will be substantially lowered. We will also make real strides in combating global warming (or we will be doomed...). etc. etc. etc. Late adulthood (46-64): The generation takes the reigns from its predecessors - the election of Bill Clinton was seen as a sign that the Boomers were now in charge. As an Obama supporter, I'm hoping this is the last year of their rule, but if Hillary Clinton or a Republican becomes president, we will have to put up with 4 to 8 more years of boomer rule. That should hopefully be it, though. Old age (65+): The generation begins to retire, and begins racking up health care costs and nostalgically listening to the music of their teens and twenties. More on this subject to come? You'll just have to wait and see...