Emerging Mobile Generation

The second session of the Generations in Conversation course, on Tuesday, focused on those currently at school. We used as our stimulus the Kaiser Foundation’s paper on Generation M, released earlier this year. The report looked at the capacity for multi-tasking held by those between the ages of 8 and 18. We used the Adobe presentation which included the image on the right. Hint: Use Ctrl L to make this full screen.

First question. Is this the Millennial/Gen Y cohort we’re reading about? Or are we seeing the development of a distinct cohort?

We explored the likely impact of a mobile multi-tasking multi-media multi-sensory lifestyle on this emerging generation.

Rushed families, with limited incomes, are now moving towards prepared fresh foods from the supermarkets. We’re seeing a number of reports coming out on the prevalence of obesity among kids who indulge in virtual exercise. It seems as though more kids are being diagnosed as obese and with eating disorders. At the same time we’re seeing a response in the school tuckshops.

The Queensland Association of School Tuckshops is working with Nutrition Australia to provide nutritious, hygienic and economically viable food services. One of the group talked about the emerging ‘black market’ in candy in which kids buy their junky food and bring it to school.

We’re seeing families developing mobile lives in which time together happens only during the commute to work and school. One youthworker shared his need to move closer to work so that he wasn’t spending so much time on the road.

One question. What is different about this generation? After all, Gen Xers and Gen Y adults are used to multitasking. A significant difference is that this emerging generation are growing up as participants and curators of media, as they develop their web spaces. We’re seeing a generation of young people growing up with mobile wireless technology, who will adapt the Playstation Portable as their own.

What does this mean for personal finance? With an expectation of owning mobile devices with subscriptions, there’s a pressure for finding an income. We’re seeing an emerging trend for part time jobs, particularly in the service industry. Friday night is no longer the sacred space it used to be. There are implication for youth groups and for schools who wish to develop extra curricular activities.

We reflected on David Elkind‘s thesis of The Hurried Child. As youthworkers we see many young people stressed out by the achievement culture of the education system. At the same time there are still young people who have no motivation to buy into an achievement culture. The expectations of parents are clearly critical here.

We looked at the POV (Point of View) television commercial for Portable Sony Playstation. See my write up on the ad at Duncan’s TV Adland. One youthworker asked if we might see a back flip in which young people reject the pressure of being constantly online and connected. Will we see a 21st century equivalent of the Luddites, a social movement of English workers in the 1800s who protested against the Industrial Revolution, often by destroying textile machines. He pointed to the development of Taize as an alternative approach to spirituality, unaided by screens and mobile technology.

The need to see each other is important. That’s becoming provided more and more in virtual communication, via web cameras and perhaps through future generations of PSPs and their equivalents. No matter which generation, we walk through adolescence and into early adulthood searching for the personal, the sense of intimacy that can only be met through the ‘tribe’.

Kenda Creasy Dean, at the national Youth Workers Intensive in Sydney this year, talked about the mobile generation of young people starting conversations with “Where are you?” rather than “How are you?” We shouldn’t be fooled by the amount and constancy of small talk in texting and instant messaging. The small talk is a precursor to more significant in-depth intimate conversation.

One youthworker presented the myth that “we are always connected”. He said that the reality is that only God can connect with us wherever we are.

Another (younger) youthworker asked why we feel threatened by the emerging forms of communication. Conversations that are not in real time can be just as meaningful. Previous generations had to make do with letter writing and ‘snail mail’. People who rarely meet each other face to face can still develop a level of connection, trust and relationship over time using email, blogs, and instant messaging.

We explored the appearance of Jesus to disciples in a locked room in the weeks after the resurrection, as written up in John 21. Jesus offered a tangible experience, a face-to-face meeting. But he indicated that this would not be the norm. His followers would need to make do with a connection that was much less tangible.

We thought about the development of the SMS Bible in which youth workers can send a verse to young people via their mobile phones. See my post at on the SMS Bible. In the past we’ve used the Bible (book) as a symbol of the capacity to get in touch with God. Likewise the early church had the letters of the Apostles who had little opportunity to visit widely.

Could we name our relationship with God as virtual? We don’t have the luxury of speaking to God, face to face. We have to use our imagination to develop the capacity for prayer.

That set off alarm bells for one youthworker. What do we mean by virtual? “Virtual” for him would mean “not real”. But for many people the term ‘virtual’ is not a negation of reality. It’s more a clarification of how the reality is experienced.

Tom Beaudoin, in his book, “Virtual Faith”, writes about experiences of God that are mediated through a wide range of media. The experience is real, even though some of the aspects of the ritual might have been artificially contrived. See my post on his book back in April.

I told the story of a dance party with a surf theme in which one of the young people brought along a yin-yang symbol (with some meaning in the surf culture) to put on the wall of the church hall. One of the youth leaders belligerently demanded that it be taken down. He was upset that a New Age symbol was being allowed into the building.

We’re seeing an emerging generation of early adults and adolescents who are quite comfortable with visual symbols that may have come from a ‘non-Christian’ or pagan background. Our challenge as youth workers was to help in the discernment of what is real and important in relationships with God and one another. Paul talks about this in first letter to the Corinthians as he addresses the pluralism of Corinth. The gritty reality of loving relationships was what would take a community beyond virtual experience to a real-time life changing experience.

So do we allow multi-tasking in worship? Will we have people engaging with individualist approaches as well as communal participation? Kenmore Baptist start their evening service with the question and assertion,”When did God ever SMS you? Turn your phone off.” The reality is that even while taking part in communal activities, people of all ages are engaged in their own interpretation of their environment.

So how do we develop resources that connect real life with real faith for members of a mobile generation? What if God was able to to communicate with people via their mobile phones?

Perhaps we could equip people to use SMS for engaging with television shows, music, online games and web sites. We could share prayers for work.

There are spill-over issues that we’ll cover in other sessions. The development of alternatives to the reality television show in which the more a person reveals the more reason we have to reject him or her. The development of family and community patterns that build a generation’s capacity for intimacy and identity formation.