Hanging out, Millenial Style
Hanging out. Do you remember when you would "hang out" with your friends?
I grew up on a farm, five miles from the nearest town in the Midwest. Asking my parents for permission to hang out with my friends was a tricky thing in the mid-80s. Between farm chores, household chores, school, and church, free time was limited. Since many of my friends were in the same situation, it was a rare time when we could get together. I guess that's why I remember those times so vividly. Roller skating at the roller rink. Sleepovers. MTV's Top 20 Video Countdown on Friday nights. Oh, how I lived for those times.
In the article "Living and Learning with New Media," the authors point out
Once teens find a way to be together - online, offline, or both - they integrate new
media within the informal hanging-out practices that have characterized their
social worlds ever since postwar emergence of teens as a distinctive youth
culture, a culture that continues to be tightly integrated with commercial
popular cultural products targeted to teens. While the content, form, and delivery
of popular culture continue to change, the core practices of how youth engage with
media while hanging out with peers remain much the same. (Ito 14)
This portion of the article resonated with me because it reminded of my own teenage years. While many will complain about this generation's dependence on technology, it does not seem much different from my own experiences. In my youth, I used the technology available to me to reach out, connect, and hang out with my own friends. Years later, my own children are using current technology to hang out with their friends. When my son logs-in to his League of Legends account at Central Washington University, his friends do the same in northern Washington, Montana, and Virginia. Even though they are miles apart, my son and his friends are able to connect, share their lives, and "hang out."
When older generations decry the youth of today, we must remind them of their own youth. The children of today are repeating the behaviors of the generations before them. Yes, they may hang out differently than we did or our parents did or their parents. But, the motivation underneath is the same. It is an opportunity to connect with other people, find commonalities, and make memories. Our kids today are not different than we were. It's good for us to remember that.
I really appreciate the reminder to remember the motivation underneath kids use of technology to socialize is not different than when we were kids. As a person who likes to think of themselves as open minded, I still struggle with this. Probably with my own kids more than with other students. Sometimes I think we spend too much time focusing on what is different between every generation instead of focusing on what we all have in common. At the most basic level for every person, I think that is the need to belong and be accepted.
ReplyDeleteGreat point of us 80s kids using what technology we had a the time to do the same things kids are doing today to hang out. I'll never forget Friday nights driving the Enumclaw strip back and forth until I saw another EHS friend. Then we'd hang out in the Safeway or AMPM parking lot until too many of us showed up and we'd get kicked out. Now kids do the same but group up on Instagram and Snap chat to do the same thing but not as costly in gas $. Nothing new under the sun just done in a new form and method.
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