The Orkut Generation

There is our generation, and there is our parents' generation (The gap between the two is understandable). If we divide our generation further, then on one side there are the now twenty-somethings who have seen the emergence of communication technology (more specifically, cell phones, chatting and social networking); and on the other side there's the younger lot - kids now in their teens who grew with all these technologies already around. It this post, I will first try to explore the gap between 'us' and 'them' (no disowning intended)[I will sometimes refer 'them' as the 'Orkut Generation']; and will then discuss the impact of these technologies on 'them'.

We use cell phones when we need to talk to somebody, they use it for sending jokes through smses and transferring ring tones through bluetooth; we chat to discuss something or to remove boredom, they chat because for them its the obvious thing to do; we use social networking sites to keep in touch with old friends, they use it for masti. In short, our use of communication technology is more need driven than there's. We can imagine life without all these things, they probably can not.

Before moving on, I must hasten to add that many amongst 'us' are more like 'them'.

What effect does all the communication technologies have on our 'Orkut Generation'? Well, I believe that on the positive side there are many things to look up to. But here I will focus on what is 'not so good' about such an exposure. The other day I stumbled upon the profile of one of my younger cousins on orkut. I noticed that the profile did not match with what I knew about my cousin. Then I saw the profiles of some other younger acquaintances. And there was a definite pattern in all these profiles -- there was a conscious attempt to present oneself as 'cool'. I was not sure how to react, but certainly it was not at all pleasing. I went a step further, and read some of the scraps in their scrapbooks. To my horror, the discussions, and in some cases the language used, were not up to the mark. There were also a large number of scraps form seemingly unsolicited people wanting to be friends specially with young teenage girls. All this saddened me. It gave a feeling, that may be its too much too early for these kids; and that the direction in which they seem to be going is not correct. Add to this, the time that they waste on these technologies. They would be better-off playing, reading, going out, or even surfing (not to mention studying) than spending time playing with their cellphones, chatting, or orkuting.

I don't think the negatives I discussed outweigh the positives that the communication technologies bring for our teenagers; but at the same time I am convinced that everything is not rosy and atleast there needs to be some kind of a check on the amount of time the kids spend with these technologies. Remember, 'excess of everything is bad!'.