Prime Time Replay:
Douglas Rushkoff
on Youth Culture and the Information Age
MsgId: *emedia(4)
Date: Mon Oct 7 21:01:02 EDT 1996
From: Paulette At: 152.163.233.33
It's Monday, which means it's time for another "E-Media" session! I'm the moderator, Paulette Hodge. Tonight's guest is author Doug Rushkoff, whose latest title, "Playing the Future: How Kids' Culture Can Teach Us to Thrive in an Age of Chaos," explains the world of Generation X for befuddled older generations.My first question is: do you consider yourself an apologist for Generation X?
MsgId: *emedia(9)
Date: Mon Oct 7 21:04:44 EDT 1996
From: rushkoff At: 153.35.0.239
Of course not. There's nothing to apologize *for*. Even if there were, who would I be to speak for them all?
MsgId: *emedia(12)
Date: Mon Oct 7 21:08:21 EDT 1996
From: Paulette At: 152.163.233.9
I ask because, in "Playing the Future," it seems to go against GenX theories to explain what their marks are to older generations.
MsgId: *emedia(15)
Date: Mon Oct 7 21:09:57 EDT 1996
From: rushkoff At: 153.35.0.239
I'm not sure I know exactly what you mean. I don't think I reveal any generational "secrets" -- I think what I'm trying to do is help 'older' people see some of the value in the culture younger people are developing. This doesn't amount to an apology for Generation X, whatever that is. It's more of a deconstruction of young, somewhat futuristic culture in the hope of showing the less-informed that there are some pretty wonderful things going on.
MsgId: *emedia(18)
Date: Mon Oct 7 21:13:06 EDT 1996
From: Paulette At: 152.163.233.17
Yes. It's like how the early interpreters of the Church's rules of faith had to explain their religion to non-Christian people. But it seems that the generational gap this time around frightens the older generations more than before. Is that something you think is true? Or is it on the same level as the generational fear in the '60s?
MsgId: *emedia(20)
Date: Mon Oct 7 21:15:48 EDT 1996
From: rushkoff At: 153.35.0.239
I think older generations are always afraid of younger ones, because they adapt to and embody change first. We live in a period of such extreme change, such threatening change, that parents now seem more threatened than usual by the younger people. Kids learn languages faster than adults, and they're learning how to live in a chaotic culture faster than their parents. No wonder there's a generation gap these days. That's why I thought by explaining some of this change, and some of youth culture's coping strategies, I might ease the tension a little bit.
MsgId: *emedia(26)
Date: Mon Oct 7 21:20:01 EDT 1996
From: Paulette At: 152.163.233.33
One of the things you discuss, which the "New York Times" and other publications have bemoaned, is the number of 20-somethings who return home after college, rather than moving out on their own. They're also marrying later, and reading comic books well past their teen years. You view this as a sign of human evolution. But this is during a high incident of "Not my fault"-itis, in a way, where it seems fewer people want to take responsibility for their actions or for their lives.
MsgId: *emedia(28)
Date: Mon Oct 7 21:22:02 EDT 1996
From: rushkoff At: 153.35.0.239
Sure. It's not a cop-out in the least. The more evolved a species is, the longer the child's period of helplessness. Ants and worms are pretty much on their own when they're born. Human children are helpless for several years. You might be able to conclude from this that culturally, too, the longer an individual human develops, the more evolved he is. The period of "openness" and adaptability is longer now, because there's so much more to absorb.You're assuming that being a child of chaos, as I call them -- open-minded, willing to adapt, ready to tackle new technology, able to learn new language systems -- is somehow an immaturity. It may be a privilege, but it's an assumption of responsibility, not a negation of adulthood. The fact that there are people alive today willing to forestall the inevitable locking-in of value systems is not a symptom of an immature society. It's a willingness to find new solutions to old problems.
MsgId: *emedia(34)
Date: Mon Oct 7 21:24:58 EDT 1996
From: Paulette At: 152.163.233.17
But what about parents, who look forward to enjoying the rest of their adult years without having to continue to "raise" their children? As a parent, would you want to "raise" your child longer than the 21 years we have now?
MsgId: *emedia(35)
Date: Mon Oct 7 21:26:07 EDT 1996
From: rushkoff At: 153.35.0.239
I don't know if it's parents who will have to be "raising" their children longer, or children who will have to be raising their parents longer. Although there is a trend for kids to stay under their parents' roofs a bit longer -- I'd argue it's economics-based trend at that -- I don't think our over-aged kids are kids in the traditional sense. They are less childlike than their adult counterparts, who look to father figures like presidents and popes to tell them how to think and act. They are attempting to develop themselves into independent thinkers, and this might take a little longer than a high school education.
MsgId: *emedia(39)
Date: Mon Oct 7 21:31:21 EDT 1996
From: Paulette At: 152.163.233.9
When describing GenX's longer maturing stage, it reminds me of the "middle-age crisis," where adults try to reclaim the youth they lost when they "became grown-ups." Are the two symptoms related, or is "middle-age crisis" something GenX could still experience, even with a longer maturing stage?
MsgId: *emedia(40)
Date: Mon Oct 7 21:33:18 EDT 1996
From: rushkoff At: 153.35.0.239
Well, midlife crisis usually occurs at about the time that adults realize that the parent figures and institutions they've depended on to replace the security that their real parents provided fail on them. It's possible that younger people -- who have already dispensed with the notion that institutions can provide parenting and guidance -- won't go through the same "second adolescence." I suppose this early, prolonged adolescence is a way of doing that.
MsgId: *emedia(43)
Date: Mon Oct 7 21:37:11 EDT 1996
From: Paulette At: 152.163.233.17
Going back to another question: are parents today more restrictive than parents of the '60s? Do you feel Baby Boomer parents are blaming GenX kids for the chaos, rather than looking toward seemingly lax parenting on their part, while raising GenX?
MsgId: *emedia(45)
Date: Mon Oct 7 21:39:13 EDT 1996
From: rushkoff At: 153.35.0.239
I think most parents today are pretty good, actually. They worry a lot, though, and blame themselves for being too permissive -- especially when they see their kids watching Beavis and Butthead or Power Rangers. Parents today are probably less restrictive than their own parents were. Baby boomers had real parents, who saw themselves as authority figures. The boomers themselves, deep down, know that they don't really know the answers to life's big questions. When they see their cynical/ironic kids, they start to feel guilty about not having infused their kids with values. Ironically, perhaps, they did the best thing they could have.
MsgId: *emedia(50)
Date: Mon Oct 7 21:48:43 EDT 1996
From: Paulette At: 152.163.233.9
There's lots of snowboarding and skateboarding similes in the first part of "PTF." Are you a fan of extreme sports? Do you play them? (There's no mountain biking descriptions, though....:-) )
MsgId: *emedia(51)
Date: Mon Oct 7 21:50:59 EDT 1996
From: rushkoff At: 153.35.23.9
I've tried and failed miserably at most extreme sports, but I respect the impulse to play them. Kids don't get the same thrill out of spectator sports that we did -- and they won't get the same satisfaction out of a spectator democracy, spirituality, or society, either.They want to feel the 'twitch' of sports for themselves, and have less need for the role models provided by professional, spectator-based sporting events. (The role models all fail them eventually, anyway.)
Mountain biking would definitely count, though they don't have quite as many icons, stickers, and weird old cultural artifacts as skaters and snoboarders.
MsgId: *emedia(53)
Date: Mon Oct 7 21:52:31 EDT 1996
From: Paulette At: 152.163.233.9
I think this will be the last question. Your discussion of cyberporn describes the media reportage of it as hype and driven by commercialism. What is the worst thing a parent could fear about the Internet for their kids?
MsgId: *emedia(54)
Date: Mon Oct 7 21:55:53 EDT 1996
From: rushkoff At: 153.35.23.9
It may sound a bit glib, but the biggest fear parents should have for their kids about the Internet is that kids might not be able to use it. It's not quite that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself, but adults can't let themselves be frightened by the fact that kids have free access to almost any information they want. It's not that kids will become too smart or too dangerous to deal with. It's just that parents won't be able to have all the answers anymore. Even teachers using the Internet in the classroom will have to become partners in learning rather than just the providers of raw data. The machines just have more information in them than any one person can possibly hold. On the bright side, adults will be needed to help piece all the information together.
MsgId: *emedia(55)
Date: Mon Oct 7 21:57:15 EDT 1996
From: Paulette At: 152.163.233.17
Which country or society do you feel best understands its children and their youth culture?
MsgId: *emedia(56)
Date: Mon Oct 7 21:59:56 EDT 1996
From: rushkoff At: 153.35.23.9
Interesting question. In terms of understanding "screenagers," I'd have to say Holland or the US. Maybe Japan. Unfortunately, the US is the only developed nation without media literacy in its mandatory curriculum. While that shows a sad lapse in judgment, the US still has almost professional parents -- those newagers and boomers who truly dedicate themselves to trying to understand young people. (The kinds of people who buy my books, too.) If we can shrug off our Puritan heritage, we in the States should be just fine.
MsgId: *emedia(57)
Date: Mon Oct 7 22:00:31 EDT 1996
From: Paulette At: 152.163.233.33
We're out of time. Thank you, Doug Rushkoff. Those wanting to read more about Rushkoff's theories on youth culture and the Information Age can read "Playing the Future," along with "The GenX Reader" and "Media Virus!" Next week, Steven Mentor will discuss cyborg and cyborgian culture.
MsgId: *emedia(58)
Date: Mon Oct 7 22:01:45 EDT 1996
From: rushkoff At: 153.35.23.9
Thanks so much for having me. You were right: an hour is a really short time to get into all this, but you covered many of the bases quite well. Until next time, here's a big GA.
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