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The Communication Generation
Patrick Lancer, Sunday January 7th, 2007
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Statistics show that over 80% of college students own a cell-phone. That’s a percent that is growing by the year. Even high-school students seem to have the machines attached to their ears. Something rings and every student takes a moment to register if it is their call. If not, they look around to see who is slumping down in their desk, guilty. If it does not ring, it vibrates. A strange emanation that the biology teacher thinks is a cricket and the history teacher knows is the signal of some ancient Indian tribe. Parents must wonder what that noise is and why their child is always walking into the other room. You might as well Velcro them to our hands, we reach for them so much. We are the Communication Generation.
There are two elements to the Cellular Revolution (or the Cellution, as some, namely me, are calling it). The first element is size. A small cell phone is something to be coveted. They can make them thin as razors these days. The second element is extras. The more cork-screws, nail-files, and tweezers your Swiss-Army knife has, the better it is. Cell phones play music and games, send text messages, take photos and movies, and some cells even function as telecommunication devices, allowing the user to contact other people via digital transmission of a verbal message. What miraculous and wonderful days these are!
And don’t forget style. These days phones have style too. Commercials for cell phones must include a cute, trendy couple or a smokin’ hot babe. Often we also see the typical parent to cute daughter interaction, which conveniently appeals to a spectrum of generations. The phones themselves are pushing the boundaries of stylistic innovation. Minimalism is being revived, slick and smooth is the new thing.
But wait! There is an even larger element to our communication-centric society. Chances are, you are using it right as you are reading this, no doubt about it. You are on the internet. The massive series of tubes is connecting me to you and you to the world. Forget six-degrees of separation, how about one. With an e-mail you can contact the world. E-mail is free and fast. The only thing better is MySpace or Facebook. Contact can be kept between you and your girlfriend or you and that girl you met at the party last night. Hell, you don’t even need to know them; some people actually meet soul-mates over the internet! You can get a date or mail-order a bride.
And the two technologies are slowly crawling towards each other. Computers can easily be used for voice or even video chatting, and cell phones have more power than the $3000 Apple Performa I used just 7 years ago. So maybe it isn't a slow crawl so much as a brisk jog. In fact, everything in the communication generation is faster. Computer speeds double every 18 months. Imagine if cars did the same. 2008 Mustangs would easily get 500 mph and 0-60 in a fraction of a second.
Not only are we a generation obsessed with our cells and the internet, but we orbit around other means of communication as well. We can’t forget the other phone. Yah, remember, the one with the cord. Some people still use that. Real mail is fading out. In fact, I tried to mail a card last week and at the post office discovered that postage was 5 cents more expensive than it was when I last bought stamps. And lets face it: thirty-something cents is a lot to pay for a message that takes 3-4 days for delivery, considering you, a member of the Communication Generation, could get it there in 3-4 seconds for free, without ever getting off of your fat lazy ass.
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