More on Kids Today

[prog]

I finally read that NYMag feature that postulates that youngsters' views on privacy, and specifically on self-documentation, is one side of the most significant generation gap since Elvis was on Ed Sullivan. It's an interesting read.

I said "Hey, me and most of my 30-n-older friends do that" at a couple of specific examples, but really this is because we've been online for 15+ years and therefore are unusually savvy for our demographic. The whole mainstream lifestyle described here was never ours, though, and a lot of it does seem pretty damn alien.

It's really hard to say how my own childhood and teenage years would have been different if I was online from the crib onwards. I want to say "Probably just as miserable" but really I'm not so sure. My own personal turnaround came when I got my first modem at the start of 12th grade, and just through local BBSes my life improved immensely through my ability to connect with kids like me in other schools who I would have never met otherwise.

Comments

[prog.livejournal.com]

Knowing where the boundary lay between self-documentation and Interneterizing about others is a sign of maturity, because when you're wee you don't even know that there is such a boundary. When the young slop over it constantly and suffer the consequences and don't understand why, they call it drama. Eventually each figures out where that line is and pays it heed. (Or not.)

I wish more people felt as you did about the baby-blogging. As long as your judgement is tempered by the assumption that her 7th grade classmates will have instant access to everything you post today, I think you're all right.