CauseWired

Last night, over at the barn, our pick-up band trotted out some old Neil Young licks and we bashed away on our guitars on some classic Boomer rock. In the midst of the audio carnage, one of the guys picked out the lead lines from Ohio, that brilliant protest song recorded by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young way back in 1970 (when the record will clearly show that I was eight years old). It’s vicious little riff as guitar songs go, but the whole song is evocative of that era’s mass protest, student marches, and the edge of violence in civil disobedience.

None of this resonates particularly with the CauseWired generation, dominated by millennials who were born after 1980 and see 9/11 as their defining national moment. As I explore the intersection of activism and politics and social causes in this book, I’ll be looking (hopefully with a clear eye) and both sides of Facebook activists - the massive numbers and widespread involvement, but also the kind of passive “friending” of social change. It’s a bit “tastes great, less filling,” to quote the vintage light beer ads.

Two weeks ago in the Times, Streeter Seidell, the editor of CollegeHumor.com, took a sardonic look at his generation’s attitude towards the protesting Boomers. He’s playing it for yucks, no doubt, but there’s some truth there as well - and it cuts both ways:

I know, I know, you threw rocks at National Guardsmen at Kent State and got arrested at the 1968 Democratic National Convention. You were there when the young people rose up and for the first time told the establishment, “We are here and we will be heard!” And we’re going to do that, too, as soon as we get done watching this thing on YouTube. It’s hysterical. It’s this German kid screaming at his computer or something, I don’t even know. You gotta see it.

And don’t for a second think that we’re not informed when it comes to the candidates. I may not be out marching but you better believe I’m going to post about my support on Obama’s Facebook wall. Once I post it there it’s going to show up in my friends’ News Feeds and that’s just as effective as passing out flyers, right? Right.

“Studies” by “scientists” are claiming that we’re the “look at me” generation — that we’re all a bunch of self-absorbed, egotistic narcissists hell-bent on being the center of attention at all times. We’re flattered you’re talking about us but I believe that honor belongs to our mentors: the generation responsible for the boob job, the tummy tuck and jogging. The most self-absorbed thing we’ve invented is a secret language that cannot be understood by anyone over thirty and l00k5 5om3th1n6 l1k3 th1s.

We’re not bad kids; we have ideals, too. We know we’re in an unethical war signed, sealed and delivered by a shady group of men working at the behest of the military industrial complex. And we promise we’re going to tear down this regime as soon as the new season of “Lost” is over and we finally find out what’s up with Jacob. That dude creeps me out, for real.

The Pew Research Center is out this week with a new study looking at the so-called “Generation Next,” the group of young people born in the 80s and more frequently referred to as the millennials, Americans who began to come of age around the turn of the century. It’s an excellent report and I recommend a full reading for anyone who cares about how these young consumers view politics, their futures, social activism, and technology. The biggest finding: it’s a tolerant, progressive generation.

In their political outlook, they are the most tolerant of any generation on social issues such as immigration, race and homosexuality. They are also much more likely to identify with the Democratic Party than was the preceding generation of young people, which could reshape politics in the years ahead. Yet the evidence is mixed as to whether the current generation of young Americans will be any more engaged in the nation’s civic life than were young people in the past, potentially blunting their political impact.

[snip]

About half of Gen Nexters say the growing number of immigrants to the U.S. strengthens the country – more than any generation. And they also lead the way in their support for gay marriage and acceptance of interracial dating.

But there’s also some evidence that the preponderance of social networks and easy, online communications actually breeds some laziness in terms of involvement - something we’ll explore in CauseWired.

Their embrace of new technology has made them uniquely aware of its advantages and disadvantages. They are more likely than older adults to say these cyber-tools make it easier for them to make new friends and help them to stay close to old friends and family. But more than eight-in-ten also acknowledge that these tools “make people lazier.”