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I don’t know when we started naming generations exactly, it seems the one I became aware of first were the ‘Baby Boomers’, the name given to my parents generation. Then I distinctly remember realizing that I was a part of this Generation ‘X’ that I kept reading about, though I related to less than half of it’s characteristics. And now I see the newest generation has begun to be called Generation ‘Y’, for better or for worse. But I’d like to wipe the slate clean and slap my own label on what is happening right now in society and culture. I’d like to call this time in history: Generation ‘i’. Make no mistakes, we are ALL members of Generation ‘i’ right now.

This idea springs from a conversation I had with another performing musician friend of mine. Being new to New York City, I was asking him about the music scene. He shrugged his shoulders and kind of laughed and said,

“No one wants to hear what we have to say right now, they all want to be the ones up there saying things!”

And indeed, this seemed to be true as I began performing at open mics to audiences full of other performers, some very skilled, others, not so much. The one binding thread between us all, though, was the fact that they were there, performing. Virtually no one in the audience was there just to take in some music.

The message today is very clear: With today’s technology people are the judge, jury and executioner of their creative lives. We no longer need video editors, we are video editors. We no longer need songwriters or musicians, we are songwriters and musicians. We no longer need writers, we are writers. And the list goes on.

I know I’m not the first to point this out (in fact I seem to remember Time Magazine naming everyone Person of the Year a few years ago for this very reason) but I’d like to comment on what I feel will be the undoing of Generation ‘i’: The loss of the expert.

I’m talking about people who, through the disciplined, daily pursuit of something, achieve a level of skill and understanding that far surpasses a casual understanding. I’m talking about that which natural talent can never make up for. To us in Generation ‘i’ there is no appreciation of experts, just a vague sense of entitlement that whatever we want to know and do should be readily available to us at the few clicks of a mouse.

This is quite a quandary we’re creating, we have unprecedented access to information and tools, but unprecedented time and attention to their mastery.

Oh well, maybe all this will just end in a cultural shift. Humans seem to be endlessly adept at reframing things and discarding that which doesn’t align. Look at how well the Punk movement has been integrated into pop culture. What once began as a hallmark of rebellion and do-it-yourself attitude has somehow transformed into ‘faux-hawks’ being cut at nearly every salon in the nation. Or look at Rock and Roll for that matter. Back in the 50’s musicians and music educators were bemoaning the loss of technical skill in music for the ‘new’ importance that young people were placing on the energy and emotion of Rock and Roll. It all worked out fine, now the study of Rock and Roll is a regular part of almost any educational institution.

So where is all this leading? Where will Generation ‘i’ meet it’s end?

In Generation ‘us’ of course.

Hans Erik
Content Marketing Director
Hans@Next2Friends.com
www.Next2Friends.com