Lift10 Generations: How and why are the current generation staying connected? (Julian Zbar) [en]

Here are my running notes of the Lift conference in Geneva. This is How and why are the current generation staying connected? (Julian Zbar), part of the Generations and Technologies session. May contain errors, omissions, things that aren’t quite right, etc. I do my best but I’m just a human live-blogging machine.

Found other good posts about this session? Link to them in the comments. After the workshop with real live teenagers 2 years ago, a real live young man comes to be the witness of his generation.

Julian is 20, his name isn’t on his first slide. Largely based on personal experience. How technology is affecting his generation. Very similar to other generations. True and false preconceptions about them. We are the same human beings. Two arms, two legs, etc.

Part of the internet as it is a part of them. Just as cost-conscious as older generations, except they expect everything to be free. Whatever you do now, you need to be connected to the internet. Devices are disposable.

There is no opportunity cost for being online. Once you pay the monthly fee, you’re not giving up anything to be on it. Nobody pays, cares, feels guilty (music, software). Used to receiving a lot and giving back nothing in return.

No such thing as a free lunch but the internet is serving us all the free lunches that our hard drive stomachs can handle.

Accustomed to constant connection, constant changes, instantaneous results. Much less effort to get news online than going out and buying the paper => cheapens the information consumed. No effort, less value. No need to make a conscious choice. Discard things they don’t like rather than picking what they do like. Choosing takes too much time.

Filling empty space in the day by doing something, always something to do. The internet is everywhere. Pick it up, take it wherever you go. We are never doing nothing. Not an exponential growth in productivity. Very easy to fill every moment with some sort of activity.

Facebook. A few years ago there was a small facebook resistance, but now pretty much everyone he knows has a facebook account. Being social is no longer an active thing. It’s the default. Paparazzi magazine of everyone you have ever met. Loss of the beauty of meeting somebody. You know first name, last name, and everything about them. You feel you’ve met people that you’ve never physically met. Is there a necessity to meet them in real life? Facebook changes the way you act, even when you’re not using it (during your disconnect time).

Social acts are trivialized. Judging, commenting, liking, etc. Negative or positive things you receive do not have the same impact as offline. Emotionally charged stuff on facebook because it’s easier without the physical person in front of you. Parallels with road rage. (*steph-note: flame wars, same phenomenon. Flipside of the coin: easier to say difficult things, but also easier to be damageable.*)

Privacy. People don’t worry. You can restrict access but there is always a way of finding stuff out (through a friend, etc.)

Very easy to post things, make things public. But the internet doesn’t help you curate, sort through all the data. Always something new, but what’s important? Mimics the creatures that we are. Easy to post, easy to consume. Quick and easy for everybody, and that’s what they want.

Q: Addiction? Doesn’t feel like he needs to be connected all the time, everybody is doing it (almost), it’s normal to be connected all the time. It’s how things are.

Doesn’t see the point of Twitter if you have Facebook. *steph-note: the big big difference is that the social network on Twitter is asymmetrical.*

People act online the same way they would offline. People don’t change when they’re on the internet, maybe just a little less inhibited.

Social networks like facebook make you think (privacy). You don’t throw around photos when you know 600 people have access to it and can show it to your friends, in the same way you’d do it in person.

Because you’re on Facebook doesn’t mean you’re constantly speaking to people you haven’t seen in 3 years. You’re just doing the same things you’d normally do. Easy way to invite people to stuff without sending out 10 e-mails, etc. etc.

Everybody has their own criteria for adding friends. Julian, for example, will accept incoming requests if he’s exchanged more than a few sentences with the person.