Archive for May, 2009
Saturday, May 30th, 2009
One advantage of tracking studies is that they help us contextualize modern “crisis” points in a historical context. Harris Interactive’s has been running the Met Life Survey of the American Teacher since 1994. Some surprising findings:
- Teachers are now more satisfied with their profession than ever before (40% were very satisfied in 1984, now 62% are)
- The number of teachers who rate the academic standards of their school as excellent has doubled (from 24% in 1984 to 53%).
- More teachers report that that at least 3/4 of their students are preapred to learn at their grade level (54% now as opposed to 44% in 1984).
More here.
Saturday, May 30th, 2009
Slate’s resident journalism grump Jack Shafer regularly makes mincemeat of trend fad journalism , so I’d be curious about what he’d say about a recent New York Times article on teens addicted to text messaging. Spurred on by unlimited text cell phone plans, American teens are now sending almost 80 messages a day, more than double that of the average user.
This is naturally psychologists some concern about the impact on grade, sleep patterns, and attention spans. Sherry Turkle of MIT worries:
“Among the jobs of adolescence are to separate from your parents, and to find the peace and quiet to become the person you decide you want to be,” she said. “Texting hits directly at both those jobs.”
And fair enough. Undoubtedly technology changes behaviour. We have been worrying about the impact of technology on youth development for years now. The telephone was once described as an psychologically isolating device, as was television, the Internet, instant messaging, birth control… the list goes on. At some point the ballpoint pen was described as being destructive to handwriting, allowing people to write faster (without thinking carefully)…
The question in my mind is not about the specifics about how technology is enabling teenaged distraction. The worry here is that kids are hiding their phones under their tests, texting gossip when they should be learning algebra.
And that may be a real concern… But articles like these piece together anxieties and bits of data without really engaging with the issue. But if this is an epidemic, then let’s see some real data that there’s a cause and effect. And then let’s have a real conversation about the root of this desire to always be in touch…
Also, where are the articles about Baby Boomers and their addiction to Blackberrys?
Updated: The New York Times also recent ran an article on the epidemic of teenaged hugging. No joke.
Tuesday, May 26th, 2009
Technogolgy has progressed tremendously over the past few decades, most would argue for the better, but the downsides exist and have yet to be recognized and dealth with. With the advancement of technology has also come a surge of information, which ironcially more often then not is irrelevant, unnecessary, or unapplicable relatively speaking of course.
More people generally have the idea, more information = better decisions, but the quality, content, and relevance of the information are completely neglected.
I will attempt to showcase in a series of blogposts that the current nagging of Gen. X and Y being portrayed as not being commited enough or loyal enough in their relationships both personal and organizational speaking stems in part from drowning in information that creates a distorted perception of thir world.
Technology is hardly ever blamed or referred to when dealing with intergenerational difference, but I believe it might be one of the underlying premises behind the phenomena of the short-term focus of many young people today.
The reason being, in order to only think about decisions short-term, an individual has to have a bias against thinking long-term. And the only way a long-term focus bias might exist is if the individual percieves the environment/world/reality to be too unstable, uncertain, and complex to make any long-term plans as the world could fall apart as quick as tomorrow.
So then the question is, where does the percpetion that the world is unstable, on the verge of falling apart and going to pieces come from? Where do most people get their information from?
Take a few seconds to think and jot them down. I’ll elaborate more next week on how those very sources are the cause of the distortions that exist and prevent people from feeling they can devote themselves to a wide variety of things from partners to employers.
With no end in sight for the advancement of technology, it appears that people sooner than later will have even more difficulty in feeling secure, which, on a sidenote is an innate human need as discussed by Abraham Maslow.
Friday, May 15th, 2009
A recent study of cell phone and landline phone polling suggests we may need a new set of standards for how we process quantitative data. This is becoming increasingly important as landline-only usage is now lower than cell phone only usage in the U.S. (similar trends are likely in Canada. A substantial portion of the population is now actually beyond the reach of random digit dialing surveys.
Thursday, May 7th, 2009
The great thing about an economic hardship is that it forces us re-evaluate our lines in the sand. Over the last little while I’ve read many articles and blogs on the impact of high unemployment and grim earning prospects for recent graduates (and eminent graduates). I should say it seems that we have ceased to see the education for the degrees.
First, what is the purpose of higher education? Second, let us try to extract the value of an education. A valuable exercise in this economic climate where the average undergraduate student leaves school with a debt load of $20,000.00 in Canada.
The reality remains that colleges and universities are rapidly losing their iconic status as places of burgeoning intellect where the brightest young minds are guided to ever greater levels of plasticity through the strenuous acquisition of complex heuristics. Rather they have for all intents been transformed into Ford Model-T style factories producing homogeneous workers with ever increasing efficiency. Our own research tells us that the most prevalent reason young people cite to pursue undergraduate degrees is “to get a good job”. Less that one in five even ranked broader education as a consideration. This does not seem really logical considering the facts. Auto mechanics, plumbers, electricians or any skilled trade person on average earn more in entry level positions than an entry level white collar worker graduating with a general arts and science degree. Should we then just advise young people to look for work in the trades and forgo the high priced letters (and seemingly about $20,000.00 in consumer credit)? Is this simply a case of buyer beware. Should students simply ensure that they are better informed about the long term implications of funding their education before considering debt financing?
Now to the a paraphrase of the second question does society still value an educated citizenry? Under the antiquated model of a broader education presumably this would be a magnificent opportunity for students to really differentiate themselves by diversifying their tool-kits and branching out to complementary and challenging fields of study. The sad reality is that in a society where linear measurement is valued to the point of absurdity this is simple not feasible academically (nor usually financially). In other words our young scholars cannot afford to risk losing a grade point gaining pursuing a more challenging path. Instead they are rewarded socially, academically, and financially for looking for the least challenging path through their education. Does it portend a general erosion of the underlying foundation of the system of education as it is currently constructed.
Many people foresaw this economic downturn and were summarily dismissed as naysayers until the unthinkable happened. Wall street collapsed and for all intents and purposes so did every major market in the world. Will education suffer the same fate as the market place is flooded with more and more educated unemployed young people fighting for entry level positions which they intend to leave the instant they find a more promising opportunity or one that is better aligned with their skill set? Markets are by definition efficient and the more protracted this downturn becomes the less tolerant employers will be of a volatile overqualified workforce. Maybe they will start hiring only qualified candidates and leave the overqualified ones to fend for themselves. Is an educational downturn eminent for our institutions of higher learning?
Wednesday, May 6th, 2009
I recently read a chapter on “remix culture” from The Pirate’s Dilemma, by Matt Mason. The next day I was speaking with a group of Canadian leaders about Canada new place in the world. These two thoughts came together. A. Canada as a country of immigrants is all about remixing culture – sometimes for the worse, but mostly for the better. You can do away with elements of the original culture and only keep the great stuff. Then mix it in with others doing the same. Are remixes always better than the original? I’m not sure, but I like the idea. B. Young people are in a constant state of remix. Remixing family traditions, remixing knowledge, remixing creative content. So are Canadian youth the driving force behind creating the ultimate remix for the world to see? Hope so…..
Wednesday, May 6th, 2009
The now Toronto-based guru Richard Florida, the future of consumption can be observed in what people feel are “necessary items in the latest Pew Internet Survey. But Florida takes the ball and runs with it, pointing out that this kind of tracking survey doesn’t account for what he calls “intangible” spending:
Iff we look closely it’s possible to discern some emergent threads of a new consumption pattern. We’re already experiencing the fall of some of the biggest symbols of post-war consumption – big cars and SUVs, oversized suburban McMansions, and conspicuous consumption of various sorts. There’s a shift toward smaller cars and smaller dwellings, toward walkable neighborhoods; toward more authentic, organic and energy-efficient products; and from material goods to experiences generally.
It’s an intriguing idea, and will have tremendous implications for young people living through this transition. As much as recent economic and environmental trends have forced people to rethink how and where they live, we are still prisoners of an infrastructure designed for the last 30 years, not the future.
That shift towards a more responsible consumer lifestyle is still a luxury in today’s economy. When will it become the norm? And who will drive it?
Saturday, May 2nd, 2009
This month’s cover story in Toronto Life profiles some Toronto-area members of Generation Y and asks them how they are coping with the recession. It starts with the typical stereotype of a high-flying, overpaid kid crashing rapidly back to earth upon being laid off. A kid who worked in finance and once made six figure salary and bought $200 ties now stays in and looks for work. Elsewhere recruiters talk about the “softness” of the young people they try to bring on for six figure salaries at major corporations. Once, they were rich as kings! Now they are poor as paupers. Generational schadenfreude ensues.
To be fair, the whole article is not like this. But by starting the article on this helpfully skippy note, it sets in place a notion that, as write Katrina Onstad reveals later on, is simply not true. Generation Y has never been rich. They’ve grown up in unprecedented boom times, but their share of that wealth has been, in fact, steadily declining. Median wages for those 25 to 29 have been dropping since the 1980s. The consumer price index increased 60 percent from 1998 to 2008. The fact of the matter is that in real terms, young people have been getting relatively poorer, not richer in the last 30 years.
The fact is, Generation Y are not just creative thinker types, bankers, or IT professionals. They also work low-paying service jobs, have no pensions, and have paid ever-escalating costs for basic housing. The myth of generational entitlement is really, simply specific to people of a certain socio-economic class.
