I'll read the whole thing when I have time, but my immediate reaction is that it is totally untrue for our household. My eye fell on:
None of this is to suggest that older people aren’t online, of course; they are, in huge numbers. It’s just that it doesn’t come naturally to them. “It is a constant surprise to those of us over a certain age, let’s say 30, that large parts of our life can end up online,” says Shirky.
I, at almost 60, am the one who is willing to make full disclosure online; the 16-year-old is the one who uses all kinds of fake info in her own blogs, to prevent identification, and doesn't want me to talk about her at all in my LJ.
Cakmpls and I are on the same page here, no question. Part of it is my own experience writing for the amateur press associations associated with science fiction fandom; I learned to get quite revealing. (And trying to do the same thing on LJ, I've paid for it -- I spoke too freely about a musician who was not one of my best friends, but whom I certainly don't dislike, and got a message on my answering machine threatening lawsuit. I'm going to be far more careful in the future.) I'd be thrilled if some of the younger people in my life would do likewise, but it looks as though some people I'd like to see and hear more of (all four of the Brust kids, to name one or four for-instances)simply aren't going to write in that sort of detail. Then again, all four of the people in question are well over 16 years old, now.)
It was interesting, but I feel the age boundary around me, and I'm not sure I want to breach it. I want to do the careful reaching out to people whose conversation and interests I am drawn to -- I don't think I could handle 3,000 friends. I think I like having a community of 100 or so writers, etc., that I have "met" through Yahoo/Gmail lists and Live journal, but I went to the trouble of friends-locking anything I wouldn't want a stranger to overhear. And if I REALLY want it private, I won't post on it at all.
Perhaps the HR groups of the future won't decide that people who talk all the time about their life probably can't keep work secrets. Or maybe entering the job market (for all but the few who actually become the next designers, etc.) will cause many of these kids to become silent -- or to delete their past.
It does make me think that technology is moving faster than I can keep up, because I have things that must be done, and only so much Internet time....
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(no subject)
Date: 2007-02-27 08:54 pm (UTC)None of this is to suggest that older people aren’t online, of course; they are, in huge numbers. It’s just that it doesn’t come naturally to them. “It is a constant surprise to those of us over a certain age, let’s say 30, that large parts of our life can end up online,” says Shirky.
I, at almost 60, am the one who is willing to make full disclosure online; the 16-year-old is the one who uses all kinds of fake info in her own blogs, to prevent identification, and doesn't want me to talk about her at all in my LJ.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-02-28 01:39 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-02-27 09:33 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-02-27 10:09 pm (UTC)It's an interesting article.
B
With cakmpls
Date: 2007-02-27 10:12 pm (UTC)N.B.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-02-28 03:16 am (UTC)Perhaps the HR groups of the future won't decide that people who talk all the time about their life probably can't keep work secrets. Or maybe entering the job market (for all but the few who actually become the next designers, etc.) will cause many of these kids to become silent -- or to delete their past.
It does make me think that technology is moving faster than I can keep up, because I have things that must be done, and only so much Internet time....