The New York Times published an article about graduates underachieving.
I don’t agree at all with defining either generations by parenting trends. There are myths of achievement that vary by cultural, ethnic, hippie spectrum, or whatever identity is handed down. Just watch an episode of Wife Swap. We aren’t defined by kids who did go to college, graduate, even though a lot did and considered it an accomplishment. I wish it was a bigger deal than a ceremony.
Who are these guys? Not my friends. We weren’t all all-stars in high school and to be honest, we were just serious about being ourselves, even if that meant wearing overalls every day of Junior year. I love them for letting me not think about fashion. I intervened when it was time to care and I’m still not really into fashion.
I do love design though, and have a lot of friends who work in the industries or companies that hire them. The fact is that “misery loves company” goes both ways. If the environment sucks, get out or stay and don’t take crap from people. It’s really difficult to do the second option if the aim is to be a creative person. The graduates in today’s article seem qualified but uninspired. Maybe the companies aren’t available right now, or maybe they’re being creative about networking.
Fazya and Yonis from design studio FYHK8082 posted this video on Twitter yesterday:
D&AD Presidents Lecture / Matt Pyke from Universal Everything on Vimeo.
A lot of graduates don’t choose a job path at school. They hang out and do nothing. How is that a the worst choice after graduation? I’ve had one job that didn’t challenge me and one that had expectations no one could meet. The second was better for my career, but to be honest both environments were difficult. Starting a career is full of ups and downs until the direction makes sense.
Why would graduates rush directionless into an unstable economy?
The projects that matter right now are collaborative ones. Profession and personal growth are both important. To do good work, the details have to be group sourced and the environment has to be social. At my first job, finishing my work in two hours gave me time to spend the rest of the day on Facebook. The red flag is that those networks are only now seen as having value to clients. Before they were seen as unproductive or outlawed.
Not that I’m slamming anyone. Being exposed to professional life was an opportunity, not to mention the experience and network is helpful in Wisconsin. These issues should be open-minded discussions, though, before becoming hidden conflicts. It’s better for business to have productive internships, I think.
The internet generation really should be looked at more closely, not by a meta or societal level yet. Most of us specialize and are still building a reputation for what we do online. It looks risky to other generations but most of us have an idea of what’s going on in the world. Trust us but don’t label us, please. We have way to many names for this generation already.
Labels like digital natives are misunderstood too. My work as magical internet monkey blogger carries expectations to figure out how to translate real-life issues into an online experience. Sometimes, the ideas people suggest make me think what I do sounds like The Matrix, even for some people my age. Like Keanu, we are chosen to take our accomplishments and change by force. That’s not working in the virtual world.
I feel agency in what I do and decide not to do. And like the article said, I believe life does imitate art; The Matrix was high school ad religion for me. But sometimes the Vanilla Sky myth comes out too. This is that getting lost in cyber reality makes life a dream and a nightmare. I’m not a big gamer, but I know that’s not necessarily true for fantasy life online either.
I think there’s a lot of questions from the older generation that aren’t being asked, too. Like, why is this guy flipping out hardcore?
I bet he gets some good YouTube messages from cool people, by the way. Maybe he’ll make friends there. The questions need to be asked in context. Otherwise generations can relate.
War of Worldcraft is a game. Gaming culture can be hardcore too.
And that kid is intense. He should do something big and looks like he’s frustrated enough to do it.
Nerdcore is kinda a fad, anyway. Geeking out together can be awesome. When someone shows me a bot, it’s fun to share. For the same reason, work is not a creative space when the younger generation asks questions. Generation are different and within generations, there different experiences. Wake up! Get upset or leave. Say “no.”
Parents just remember when you see someone you’re not sharing the experience. My generation, people don’t get why your online interactions matter in real life, cause they don’t really. You have to answer the questions to make them connect. For me, that’s an open question too.
So, what is really happening? Refusing to decide is a common option. There are groups of friends meeting and not online and watching TV. Taking ideas offline or from movies or books is a little similar but important because that is how we going to develop as adults. Stealing ideas is at worse, imaginative. Oh noes! It’s going to be awesome.
If my generation wants it all, we have to be honest about what we want and be ready to take an opportunity on Twitter when it happens in real time. It is actually productive but hard to define why for others until there’s a map. Experience the change now, it’ll make sense later. I should point out my mom sent me this article. She’s a journalist and I am specializing online.
Higher education and career paths are fine to have. What matters is how you live and that will always be the truth. If the crisis is tension between generations, then a bridge can be creative too. Here’s a secret, talk to peers outside your own experience growing up. Ask your parents about Led Zepplin, honestly. I would show dad a video of a New Pornographers show on YouTube.
Think. Our parents went to concerts when they were young. We go mostly to shows and watch videos on MTV.com and YouTube. Sometimes together. It’s different but that makes us real to each other or not. Reality is harder to make perfect sense treading water at your parents house watching TV.
If environments aren’t working, leave or make new plans. Going online is good for imagining new plans. Click exit. Trust is more important in the relationship with yourself. Processing experiences is too time-consuming and blogging is kind of a time suck even though I like to think these undercurrents out.
Agency has to be respected otherwise, I cannot move, be creative, and make mistakes. I say no thanks. “Goodbye underachieving,” you didn’t understand in high school anyway. “Hello un-achiving.” The change back to imagining what I like to do.
The last point is that young people and professionals tend to meet others during this time that can help them create business or organizations or change disfunctional parts of larger systems, always spontaneously. Don’t tell them they can’t or else there’s going to be a lot of rage and blame, some rightly placed I think. Not that there still won’t be rage, but I hope it will be creative and happens through art and music and new ideas too.
