United States of Amnesia

Generation Y, Millennials, or sometimes referred to as the Technological Generation is the demographic of those born between the early 1980's and the early 2000's. I was born in 1993, in the heart of this multitasking and overstimulating generation. I often think about my generation's addiction to technology, to artificiality, and to self image. I see this addiction pretty much everyday and in a variety of circumstances. On the bus, walking around campus, in the classroom, in my apartment, out to eat, and even in nature there are "millennials" that just can't separate themselves from technology. You may wonder why this is but it is so simple to see. We were the first generation to grow up in a home with a desktop computer. I can think back to 1998 when my family purchased our first computer and see myself playing cd-rom computer games on a Dell that would take 10 minutes to turn on. The connecting internet that sounded like screeching cats and the friendly "You've got mail" message from AOL. This was the greatest technological advance of the decade and I was amazed. The days of playing manhunt and cops and robbers with the neighbor gang quickly seized and instead the "cool" thing was to enter the constructed world of video games and the internet. 15 years later, in 2013, we have personalities on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Vine, Snapchat, and Pinterest. We have newly defined verbs such as "click", "scroll", "like", "tweet", "selfie" "google", "pin", "post", "tag", "share", and "comment". We receive instant notifications from all means of social media and from phone calls, text messages, and weather alerts. We can always be contacted and interrupted from daily life by a phone call or text message.

My philosophy professor coined the phrase, "United States of Amnesia" to describe the times we are living in today. As Baby Boomers, our parents were the wealthiest, most active, and most physically fit generation up to that time. What are we? What will/have we become? What have we changed? Unfortunately I don't believe that we've done much but become addicted consumers. 97% of the Millennial college students born between 1983-1992 own a computer, 94% own a cell phone, and 56% own a music playing device. Additionally, 76% use instant messaging with 92% saying that they multi-task while using instant messaging.

Those statistics certainly appear to be true at my university. I visited one of the three Starbucks locations that we have on campus today and each of the tables were topped with Macbooks with distracted students zoning in on their iPhones. It seems as if students can't get a thought processed without being distracted by a device. The corresponding vibrate or chirp from every message we receive makes it all the more intriguing to read. My professor coined the phrase "United States of Amnesia" because he was aware of this phenomenon and its impact by shortening students' attention spans. His thoughts are that we are constantly being fed information and are becoming overloaded by it that we cannot focus on something for an extended period of time. Even in his class when we talk about the most mind-bending and interesting topics concerning God, Meaning, and Morality there are students on their phones and iPads browsing Facebook or Twitter to pass the time. Their confidence is measured by the amount of "likes" they receive on a Facebook status or an Instagram picture. 

Socrates and Plato described these "temptations" that we face daily as "appetites". They believed that we have a human desire for hunger, thirst, and sex. But they say that one needs temperance and moderation to control one's appetites. Fulfilling one's appetites is believed by them as the lowest form of human potential. The desire for technology can be defined as an appetite that needs controlling as well.  I can't say that I am a master at controlling my appetite for technology, I too have an iPhone and am typing this blog post on my Macbook Pro. The key is using these devices for purposes of productivity and not allowing them to cloud our ability to think for ourselves, to think rationally, and to think originally. Too often do I see individuals completely focused on their devices like they have an "anti-social bubble" surrounding them, ironically they are probably on social media. When the reality is that social media is surrounding us everywhere. For instance the people sitting next to us on the bus, the bus driver, the other students in class, our friends, etc. All of these little interactions are becoming overlooked when they could really lead to something great; a friend, a relationship, or simply a great conversation. We shouldn't sell ourselves short and get too distracted by technology. If we have a passion we should go out there and do it! Try turning off your phone for one day, you may actually like it and make it a habit to turn it off once a week. Defy the social norms and do your thing!

~Ryan

"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while you could miss it." ~ Ferris Bueller