As I was reading Scott Carlson’s article about “millennials” I realized I am one of them. I do not think for my generation being a “millennial” is necessarily a choice, I think, in fact, not being a “millennial” would be a choice. I entered high school with a cell phone in my hand and a buddy list full of friends to talk to on instant messenger as I did my homework after school. I write papers while watching tv, talking on instant messenger, and surfing the web. To me I need to have distractions so that I can take a break and collect my thoughts. I am part of this “attention-deficit-disorder” society Stephanie Miller refers to, but I think it is more of a way of life than a choice. Growing up in this new millennium, for a “millennial” is scary because, I think, so much is expected of us. I feel I am looked at with a sideways glance if I tell people I don’t know how to create a video for YouTube or that I’m an amateur at downloading music, or that I would have no idea what to do if my internet didn’t work or my ipod stopped playing. Being a part of this “millennial” society comes with its own expectations. Students want more time to meet in groups and interact not only to discuss what they are working on for the class they are in, but to discuss concerns with other classes. A student is doing their homework for one class during another because with class, work, driving time, and so many other obligations sometimes everything can’t be accomplished when it is supposed to. Where Carlson says “millennials” want everything “now” well, it’s because everything seems to be expected of us “now.”
I don’t think I will have a hard time understanding my students and this idea of a “millennial” society because I am a part of it. I understand multitasking and all that word encompasses. I think so many instructors become upset because they don’t feel students are listening to them, paying attention to the material, or taking the course seriously. Well, the truth is, sometimes they aren’t. With so much going on in a “millennia’s” life, Carlson is right in the fact that many students only learn what they want to learn and want to learn the lives. Juggling full course loads, full time jobs, and a social life leaves little room for fully absorbing a course. This idea, howeasiest way for them. Many students of the new millennium, however, don’t necessarily just want to learn this way, this is how they need to learn to accomplish everything in their ever, is taught to students during high school when they are accomplishing much of the same. By the time they reach college they have perfected the art of only doing what is necessary unless it is of interest to them. For today’s students they are taught what they do in high school will determine where they will go to college and if they will succeed, and in college they are taught how they perform in college will determine where and if they get a job. These pressures teach today’s “millennials” that a fast paced society full of technology is what they need to succeed. “Millennials” want their Google search results to have exactly what they need on the first page, they want to be able to pay their college tuition and find an article on Milton with one click of the mouse. I don’t think instructors should feel threatened by the way “millennials” learn, I think they just need to see it as a new way of learning, where a movie or a power point presentation helps us to constantly have something new to focus on, to keep our attention, whether that is right or wrong, it is the way we seem to learn.
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2 comments:
Jenn,
It's interesting that you consider yourself a "Millennial." For me, it is somewhat difficult to understand where this generation is coming from, and I am in a particularly precarious position. Especially after reading this selection, I feel that I am one who is stuck between. I probably shouldn't use the word stuck; I don't want to be stuck, and I do my best to try to keep up with what's going on technologically and discerning the best and most productive ways to put new technologies that I encounter to work, and for entertainment as well. When I was in undergrad, we were just beginning to discover the wonders of online chatting, email and all the rest. I was then out of undergrad and in the "working world" for six years, in which I was somewhat closed off to new developments. Then I return to graduate school and discover all of this going on around me. I am definitely interested, but at the same time I am a little timid as well. A good example of this is the movie assignment that we have for this course. I struggled with the idea of it at first, and when I finally started tinkering with movie maker, I couldn't leave it alone and spent half the day working on that, and then moved on to make my own movie from some photos of my own because I was actually having fun. Being that I am not one who was "born into" this type of environment, it was surprising to me to discover how I could have so much fun and feel like I was utilizing my creativity to a high degree, and was still working on an educational project. So I guess in my own way, I am not stuck, but was positioned, through no choice of my own, straddling two age groups with totally different philosophies. I find myself identifying with both sides of the debate on certain points but I am certainly discovering that although this new generation does seem a little scattered to me, I must try to come to an understanding as a teacher of exactly how they function and what works best for them. I am certainly not too old to forget what the boomers thought about the Gen X (of which I am a part of the tail end), and how it was always forecast that we are lazy and selfish etc, so I consciously try not to pass snap judgment on this generation's ways of doing things, especially if I feel like I might be clinging to the "way I was taught." I do not want to be one of "those." Maybe this is a type of perception or attitude that every generation has toward the one forthcoming. Who knows, maybe I will find this to be a desirable position, or one that will pose challenges for me...time will tell.
Jenn and Anita,
I don't know where to place myself as far as being a millennial goes actually. Like Jenn, I am technically a millennial, and like Anita, I feel extremely cut off from this "we-group". I did not get my first cell phone till last December, when I had already completed my MA, and was in between jobs, and I do not chat often (I am very scared of the situation when too many people are there in the chat room and it goes quickly out of control with too many pings on my window and my two sorry fongers trying to keep up with all of them, and all the while a steady scream rising in my head as it becomes worse and and worse. There were a couple of times when I have written stuff to someone and realised later by their befuddled reply that it was meant for someone else...so I decided its not worth it, and now I dont go in I unless I am invisible and chatting with only one person who knows I am there and no one else). I certainly cannot work while chatting or texting, and need a minimal-distraction environment. I know of friends in India and in the US who cannot do without multitasking. If you ask me, a lot of it is unnecessary. I certainly dont think , as Carlson does too, that one can glean a lot of the finer points of Twelfth Night while one is multitasking away millennially. I dont know, maybe I dont want to lose out on the finer points. I still may, but I would like to have the chance at least.
But then, as Jenn, so rightly points out--<< Where Carlson says “millennials” want everything “now” well, it’s because everything seems to be expected of us “now.” >>
This is so true. But still, I dont like the idea of doing everything at once, and making a mess of everything (which I tend to do, believe you me, I have tried). Maybe its just me, but I like neat, self-contained, individual, discrete messes better.
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