Reading The Times

It took around 386 years to move from the printing press (1451) to telegraph (1837), but only around 90 years to move from photography (1838) to television (1928). From there, it took only 36 years to advance from text based internet communication (ARPANET 1969) to video on demand (YouTube 2005). In less than 5 years we have moved from PC only social media (Myspace) to mobile phone social media (Moko).

For English professor, Mark Bauerlein, the digital age stupefies, producing potentially the dumbest generation. Rather than presenting a curmudgeonly whinge directed at young people, Bauerlein’s latest book is concerned with how ‘high tech, shallow content’ media has seduced. The following gen Y observation hints of this:

“Nothing excites me more than the sound of the “Beep beep, beep beep” my phone makes when I’ve received a text message. It’s like a rush of ecstatic fulfillment racing through my body when I feel the love in someone’s text message. I actually don’t think that there’s any other feeling like it, or better for that matter. Yeah ok some people may say sex is better, but what if you’re having sex through text messages! You can do that, you know!”

News & Paper

By the time journalism students arrive at university they are already expert consumers of media. As one gen Y reflects:

“13.5. The number of hours in a week I spend texting. 1189. The number of minutes a week I spend online.  22. The number of hours a week I sit in front of the TV. 54,117. The number of seconds a week I listen to my iPod.”

Multitasking media is the norm for this generation:

“In a 24-hour hour period, I accessed over ten different media of varying genres, including television, a mobile phone, DVD, MP3, newspapers and the Internet.”

Back home, mum and dad are betwixt and between old and new media:

“My mum may turn on a computer once a day for her emails and my dad uses his computer only for business purposes.”