The Millennial Generation's Hope: The Internet
As graduation season arrives, the online chatter has increased about a generation in peril: the Millennials. Van Jones and Lindsay McClusky said this in their recent Huffington Post article:
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The Millennial Generation (born 1980-2000) is the largest, most diverse, most open-minded, most tech-savvy, most eco-conscious generation in American history. Millennials are also the most unemployed, in debt and generally screwed over. Despite their desire to contribute to this country's greatness, Millennials may be the first generation in decades to face worse economic prospects than our parents and even grandparents.
I graduated in 2010, so I’m aware of this doom and gloom outlook. But I’m also not okay with the potential of this generation drowning in complaints. Instead, it is important to understand and cultivate the strengths of this huge youth movement. My generation is engaging in policy and politics with a DIY spirit that may look nonpolitical at first glance, but their online activities could be a vital act of engagement, an act of hope, and even a political act.
The Millennial Generation is so tech-savvy not only because it navigates the technological multiverse so deftly, but because it actively creates new media and utilizes online social tools, for pleasure and for politics. Young people are the consumers and architects of online information, and they have a lot of sway. Youth are constantly engaging with tools of knowledge, and as we know, knowledge is power.
A recent study by Joseph Kahne, Nam-Jin Lee and Jessica Timpany Feezell talks about the bridge between online and real world contexts. The abstract states:
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Drawing on two large panel studies, we find that youth engagement in nonpolitical online participatory cultures may serve as a gateway to participation in important aspects of civic and political life, including volunteering, community problem-solving, protest activities, and political voice.
Not all young people are discussing Osama bin Laden on Reddit, tweeting Egypt or blogging about tax cuts. Others involve themselves in non-political contexts like online gaming, art and fashion forums or poetry groups. Participation in these groups helps to strengthen personal and political identities and modes of communication and critique. They transcend online participatory contexts. These skills translate into real knowledge, and this study suggests that online forums give young people a chance to turn this knowledge into tools for building a democratic society, both online and offline.
The Millennial Generation is going to inherit great social, political, economic and environmental challenges. While Jones and McClusky may call young people “screwed over,” I would think of young people as balancing on the brink of opportunity. So long as we recognize and foster tools that might not be the revolution but will certainly help bring about change, we are empowering young people in a vastly expanding age of technology and online media.