Most people will probably be too busy with their daily lives to reflect on the things they valued and explored in their youth, or maybe only buy a book that will tell them about the things they liked and that happened when they were young. You know, common values, childhood memories like what was shown on tv, aired on the radio or stuff you could buy back in those days. Or couldn’t.
I sometimes wonder about these things and how today’s youth feels about this interconnected world.
Free pop archives like YouTube that will deliver instant multimedia pleasures at the press of a few buttons, with an extremely wide choice for everyone. Free music online instead of endless evenings spent in front of a radio/record player/tv/vcr, trying to record beloved tunes.
The availability of a complete tv series on DVD. Just click your mouse in iTunes and instantly load it onto your iPod/multimedia player.
Broadband internet connections that will instantly deliver free multimedia content to your player. Listen and forget. “Best of”-selections at the end of the year, generated via sites like last.fm. I know of someone who creates a tape/CD each year of his 10 most favourite songs. He’s my age, I am 34. Would an 18yr old still do that?
My question is: if our lives are the sum of our experiences, emotions, education, failures and success, how does this sum influence our world today, and how does it differ with a youth that does not have to struggle that hard for new information?
The world we create for them today – how will they like it, and where will they put their emphasis on (given that they won’t have to waste so much time on e.g. an extensive music collection)?
Will we even notice the change?