Comments on: Generation gap

By: Why I think the generational nonsense is so much BS | The Uncharted Backwaters of the Unfashionable

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 22:34:47 +0000

[...] Ryan Sholin, Steve Yelvington, Shannan Bowen and others have been weighing in on the journalism generation gap. Got me to thinking of exceptions to the. [...]

By: Wendy Parker

Wendy Parker — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 16:10:22 +0000

I’m also a few years short of 50 and switched from print to the online world four years ago, and feel more energized than ever despite the tribulations at major news organizations.

You don’t have to be a “digital native” — I really do hate such designations — to be willing to embrace digital media. It’s the hardest thing to do, but if I can do it, anyone can do it.

And I’m still enough of a curmudgeon to cast a critical eye toward the online realm when I think it’s necessary. Especially when “digital triumphalists” — to use another phrase I detest — think they have all the answers. And that they’re the only ones who can “save” journalism.

By: Paul Conley

Paul Conley — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 13:58:03 +0000

I’m nearly 50-years old — old enough to have come of age during the Vietnam War, but young enough that the fighting had ended before I was old enough to serve.
I watched the Watergate hearings after class in high school. I worked in newsrooms where you could still smoke. And I was doing electronic journalism before there was a Web.
So I tend not to put much emphasis on age as the determining factor in whether one “gets it” or not in new media. Or, as one of the musical heroes of my youth said, “I belong to the Blank Generation, and I can take it or leave it each time.”

By: Teach_J

Teach_J — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 06:01:43 +0000

I think there are two generations between the boomers and the millennials. There is Gen X – those of use who came of age in the late ’70s to ’80s, we aren’t idealistic or civic minded. We’re practical. We are more interested in making things work than in saving the world or remaking it. Then there’s Gen Y – those who came of age from ’88 to 2000. This is basically the slackers. They aren’t idealistic, civic or practical. They just want theirs. They are materialistic, but don’t want to work for it. And you have all four of these groups in the workforce now. What a fine mix.

By: Zac Echola

Zac Echola — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 04:45:31 +0000

Those archetypes sound like they were ripped off from Howe and Strauss predicted over a decade ago. Fourth Turning is a good book, if a little flighty (The case with all generational studies?). And while we're on generations, if any Xers feel left out, there's this great point here. Millenials, here's the counterpoint: "You won't find us wringing our hands about the dissolving borders between public and private life. We've never differentiated between the two. Yes, we overshare. But we also don't drop our monocles every time someone updates their Facebook relationship status." Which brings me back to your post, Ryan. Gen Y/Millennials/Civics/Whatever constantly participate in public and private conversations online, but the technology (like aggregation through search) just make us appear louder because we use the technology to its fullest. Which is exactly what the Holovatys and the Sites are doing with the Web.

By: Brad Mays

Brad Mays — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 03:44:03 +0000

The generational implications on the news business continue to build. Not only in the consumption of news, which has its own set of issues and challenges, but as you point out, the environment from which the news originates is another compounding issue.

By: Bryan Murley

Bryan Murley — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 03:06:09 +0000

As someone who definitely falls into the “Generation X” category, I’m always a bit miffed when we get passed over as a “gap” between the boomers and the millennials.