Recommended Reading

The essay “Gin, Television and Social Surplus” can either be read here, or listened to here. I recommend the second link, to Quirky Nomads, to hear Sage Tyrtle reading it aloud on her podcast.

After hearing the essay, I immediately went to the source website and printed it, thinking that I would show it to my parents. They do have basic internet skills and could probably read it online, but 4 pages of text is a lot when you’re not used to it. Having now printed it, I’ve decided to instead pin it to the bulletin board at the public library, where I was recently stranded for an hour waiting for a ride, so someone else who needs to be near the door looking for a car can have something interesting to read in the meantime.

I don’t watch much television myself. By that, I mean that I don’t sit in front of an actual television while watching; I download episodes of shows I want to see and watch them from my laptop, usually while knitting or crocheting. I pause them a lot to look at the pattern I’m working on (which is usually on the computer), or to check a website, then go back. I don’t like just sitting there, and only do that when watching Lost weekly, mostly because that’s the one show I go to the tv to watch. This requires popcorn, so no yarn.

When people wonder aloud where other people, like me, find time to, say, knit, crochet, have a blog, go to exercise classes and read novels, I don’t understand what they mean. Even when I had a full-time job, I still had time for these things. I don’t sit in front of the television, mesmerized and passive, for hours on end. (I also don’t have or want kids, so that probably gives me a few more hours a day). Most of the people my age that I know are invested in projects online, even if it’s something as small as reading certain blogs or newspapers every day, or being active on a forum, or using Facebook and Ravelry to network.

The part at the end where Shirky talks about the 4-year-old who suddenly dashes behind the tv to look for the computer mouse really hit it home for me. When I was a kid, television programs were just on the big box in the family room. There were occasionally shows on VCRs that could be paused, rewound, or fast-forwarded, but we didn’t have a remote for this, let alone a mouse. We had to get up, walk to the tv, and push buttons. Media wasn’t under our control for the most part, we sat back, passive, and watched. We didn’t do anything while watching either, except maybe snack. My inner 4-year-old does not have the same sense of media that the 4-year-old in the essay does.

People tend to go on about how Generation Y, my generation, expect too much from life, are spoiled, unmotivated and unwilling to compromise at work. In magazines, I’ve read about how we’re depressed, feel we shouldn’t have to work, and are floundering about between alcohol, drugs and bad relationships, trying to find the next step. It’s discussed like it’s our fault, or the parents’ fault, or the teachers’.

Isn’t it just society changing? We’ve made huge steps since 1977, the typical start-date for Gen Y, leaps, even. Some of us have managed well, others not so well, and a lot are just not understood by previous generations, even more-so than previously. Previous generations are like the producer who doesn’t understand where our mindset is, who doesn’t get where we find the time or why we behave the way we do. We have a different view of the world.

Maybe this is just a passing thought, but I wanted to write it down and share it. And seriously, be sure to check out that essay.

Edit: I did edit this a few times after publishing, sorry.