4 Disadvantages of Being A Millennial In The Digital Age
If you clicked this you're either an incredulous millenial thinking: Disadvantages in the digital age? "Muah! I am the digital age". Or you're a baby boomer who thinks I have nerve because, apart of your technical soul died along with analog and you've been watching the world catch digital fire.
Both parties are welcome to have a seat at this discussion and debate, as I list 4 disadvantages of being a "millennial" in the digital age.
1. Lack of Context
Millennials have a great can do attitude. Don't know something Wikipedia it! Hungry? There's an app for that! But, not being able to understand the context in which your digital devices, streamlined procedures, and functioning software fit into, is a byproduct.
It's important to learn the history of your industry and your craft so that you can know why the industry best practices occurred. To fight this, serious practitioners should always be reading any author that can provide meaningful case studies that allows you to gain perspective.
2. Too Close To The Fire To See The Flames
Are you familiar with that term? It means everyone can see the fire but you, because you're on fire. By that I mean, technically the digital age happened to us. We were the first ones with computers in the home at a young age. Because of that, we have a feeling of entitlement toward tech that the age above us did not inherit, and that the generation below us does not understand. We lived before touch screens, we saw it happen. It happened to us.
Because of it we never had to learn how to use social media, we used it, and then from our preferences came a way of life and communicating. I don't know if you've looked around lately but you're not getting any younger. Very soon we're going to be forced to understand the buying and socialization habits of the younger generation who is much different then us, and we'll have to adapt.
3. Attention Deficit Disorder
Chances are you may value being a multi tasker. I'm not going to talk to you about the studies done about your efficiency when multi tasking. But what I will talk to you about is your ability to pay attention. How long can you sustain focus? In minutes or hours before you look at your phone? I'm asking you personally. When something distracts you, how long does it take you to regain focus?
We're constantly connected. Because we are accustomed to dividing our attention so readily, we don't know that this is a relatively new phenomenon to human existence.
4. Digital Footprint
I still can't believe that MySpace died. Wait, what? MySpace didn't die. Oh it's not relevant anymore, but the site is still active and so are many people's old accounts. Ever wonder what happened to your Xanga account? It's still there. As you get older you traverse social media. You created a blog on WordPress and blogger when it first came out, then grew bored. You created a foursquare account so your friends could stalk you easier, then got tired of "checking in" to Starbucks. But guess what? Those accounts are still active! Unless you are actively going back and erasing (which is difficult to do) or at very least shutting down and changing the privacy settings on your old accounts, you have left a digital paper trail of your social life.
For some it's not big deal. But the last thing you want is a routine background search for a big corporate job to bring up your 5th grade rivalry with Regina George. Yeah, the one where you wrote that poem your aunt found and told your mom about. Uh huh, delete that.
Dusha Holmes II Digital Media Professional
