Why Didn’t I Think of That?
The explosion of technological inventions in the first decade of the 21st Century has defined the generation greeting adulthood within it. But the most symbolic of this era are not the material gadgets and gizmos but rather the virtual advancements made via the Internet. Handhelds, Ipods, and Spanx aside, Generation Y, or the Millennials, have been immersed in and are now defined by the world of intangible invention, much of which they have created themselves. Generational cohorts typically allow for some wiggle room in pinning down definite years of all members birth, but the general era for the Millennial crop are those born in the eighties. This era, sometimes referred to as the Decade of Decadence, bred in its children a heightened quest for wealth and fame. These, according to the Pew Research Center, are the Millennial’s greatest goals.
Thank goodness for the burgeoning Internet wherein the market has been ripe for the Millennials’ seedlings of idea. And plant and plant and plant they did. Sometimes what these entrepreneurial inventors chose to grow might be more likened to a prolific pot plant rather than a world-feeding fruit tree. But, truly, who of us can judge what best serves world-kind?
One might suggest, for instance, that navel-gazing bloggers and the new micro-blogs of tweet can’t possibly have anything left to pronounce. I mean, I already know my best friend from high school went shoe-shopping yesterday, and my sister’s newborn barfed on her brand new blouse, and even Grandma’s getting in on the action telling me about the cookies she is currently baking, but David Karp, the twenty-two year old creator of Tumblr, has decidedly determined the wheel could be reinvented. Granted, he began his career at the unripe age of twelve, but he discovered a way to make mundane details feel alive again. With ease, anyone can start up her own tumblelog or peruse the millions of other blogs on a variety of topics from “beauty” to “awesomeness” to “everything.”
Avi Muchnick, fitting into the Millennial cusp by a hair, created Worth1000 and Aviary, both media for converging artists. Using his sites, budding and established artists can edit and master all types of digital artistry for free as well as participate in worldwide communication with likeminded folks. Muchnick foretold the future to me and revealed that it will “revolve around rapid communication and collaborative idea improvement.” So, while his big ideas are less a reinvention of the wheel like the tumblelogging Karp, there is a correlation in the premise of creating access to worldwide communication and a world-improving sharing of ideas. Through this, Muchnick imagines “Generation Y to be substantially more informed about current politics and news, and substantially less dogmatic than previous generations.” He also hopes that, due to these technologies, tolerance of others will be improved. While Muchnick has embraced Internet technologies in heartening optimism, there are some who have used it to the opposite end of Generation Y’s darker modus operandi.
Mario Lavandeira, better known as Perez Hilton, might be considered by some from the wrong end of the Millennial tracks. He can be rude. He is most often inflammatory. And he is an unabashed gossip. Didn’t anyone ever tell him if you don’t have anything nice to say then don’t say anything at all? But he has managed, above all others, to encapsulate the Generation Y goals of fame and wealth by capitalizing on the Internet market. Love him or hate him, his genius is the metaphorical hyper-producing marijuana plant feeding ALL generations of “mean girl” gossips. They had it in them already; he is merely their wise-marketing supplier.
Millennial inventions: their sum is greater and, according to some, lesser than their parts. But it’s all about communication and getting the message out to the world. Some messages may need to be edited, but, hey, at least we are finally all communicating.
