By Harvey Simmons: “I am a Junior at Boston College majoring in Philosophy and Communications. I originally hail from Upstate New York in a small town named Skaneateles (good luck pronouncing that). My interests include branding, creative writing, travel, politics, student government and marathon running. The realm of marketing and advertising is a place where I believe my talents and interests collide, and I am eager to continue the conversation and explore the field.”
At times, I cannot hear myself breath nor think as I nervously reach for my pocket to make sure I have my phone.
For a generation guided by constant communication, my friends and I experience daily a world that awakens us with a customized ring tone alarm and continues with constant messages throughout the day brought to us by uncountable outside influences.
Whether constantly checking our email accounts, sending back and forth text messages or looking to see if we have any new Facebook notifications, our days are busy and filled with social clutter. However, this is not to say my life is just filled only with social clutter either, all the while I am listening to music, watching TV or Hulu and possibly trying to do online homework activities at the same time.
I recall working at a sports bar in NYC a few weeks ago. While watching college basketball and NFL football on the flat screens, I was additionally having a drink and had my laptop in front of me with my headphones on. All this time, I was writing a paper, doing research, texting my girlfriend and updating my Twitter. Many would call what I am describing as productive multi-tasking, however, I would prefer to consider the implications of a generation that does not allow itself to reflect in silence or to focus on a single note. Only so much can fit upon a computer screen and only so many songs can be mashed together at once until everything becomes a blur of dissonance.
No wonder my generation has a problem on focusing—our society does not give us the chance to do it. In every corner there is a brighter color, a louder sound or a more outrageous video. I feel as though I am walking through Times Square whenever I turn on my TV, laptop or iPhone. I consume media on an unhealthy diet, and jump from one problem to the next while often not noticing the outcomes of my decisions, and rather focusing of what my peers perceive of me in digital space. My world is dangerously over-stimulating and I never signed a contract of consent.
I desire to be free of some of the media that surrounds me, but I have no option. If I did not have a Facebook account, I would be looked down upon socially and would be unable to be aware of all the events on my campus (that is where most college students hear about every party, performance and lecture). When watching a show on TV that I really enjoy, I am bombarded with commercials that are times haunting and rarely make me think about why I should even buy a product. I have too many options for applications to purchase and play around with on my iPhone, yet it is always in front of me.
How is a brand ever going to reach me if my attention is always elsewhere? I believe that the brand has to become more like a person. It needs to be ethical, socially responsible and environmentally conscious. I need to see a brand in the news, doing good, because then I will notice; because in an age where my fellow millennials and I are losing our “humanness” by digital expansion in over-stimulation, we are looking for it in any way possible.
Photo Credit: videocrab
Author: Harvey Simmons – I am a junior at Boston College majoring in Communications and Philosophy. I hail from Skaneateles, NY (good luck pronoucing that). A student government junkie, I currently hold the position of Senate President at BC. I work to create programing for the BC student body and work with administrators to make BC a better place. Advertising is a new interest to me; it seems to combine my talents and interests–which is definitely refreshing.
[...] Media Consumption | The Next Great Generation [...]
[...] Media Consumption | The Next Great Generation [...]
Love the “blur of dissonance” line here, it's such a true description of what we're experiencing. I sometimes feel like I'm watching my life happen, like I have to ask myself “wait was I there for that?” I try to live by one phrase “be where you are, when you're there,” as much as possible but you're right, it is incredibly difficult. I think one of the ways we could combat this would be limiting our cell usage. It might be a bit inconvenient but it sure does a hack of a lot for your sanity.
I absolutely agree with your last paragraph. We need to have some sort of emotional relationship with brands, such as we do with friends or family. I wrote about this last year, about how some brands I consider “friends” or even “best friends” because to me – they exemplify some of the traits we look for: trust, reliability, stability, and personality. As a brand, if you don't start building an emotional, consistent and real relationship with your consumers, you'll definitely get lost in the clutter.
http://thatswhatalsaid.blogspot.com/2009/04/fri…
I don't have a television in my home and I'm so much better off this way. I can choose when to be bombarded with commercials. I can prepare myself And if I want to watch a movie or TV show, I can get it on Netflix (commercial free!). I know it's only one small part of the “media suffocation”, but at this stage in the game (our lives that is), we can't easily get rid of everything and in all honesty wouldn't want to.
I couldn't agree more!!! Great post!
Even when we try to limit our media exposure, we end up going back to our usual behaviors very quickly.
Example: Forget your cell phone and it seems like the world come to an end. Not only that, but when you finally get to your cell you have 10000 texts about random things. The last 200 texts are complaints why you haven't respond all day long. About 50 of them might be asking if you are even alive.
Example: Try to limit the time you spend on Facebook. You end up with 1000000 posts on your wall and messages from people asking why you don't respond.
The people around us don't make it much easier. On the other hand, there are only 24h in a day but we have so many options, so many things we want to do. There is no way we can do all we want unless we multi-task.
I had a friend last year who used to do tech-free saturdays. She turned off her phone, didn't use her laptop all day, and found something fun to do. What a rebel, right?
I've always envied her ability to disconnect so easily, but this is the hole we've dug ourselves.
Also, I left my phone at home today before I left for my internship. It was an accident and although I considered going home for it, I've decided to see what will happen if I just don't have it on me.
I completely agree that this media overload has ruined our attention spans. If I get bored, I can just go surf the Internet. I don't need to do it, but my computer's right in front of me, so why not? But it's not interesting, and I do it totally mindlessly — I sometimes find myself clicking back and forth to the same pages, just to have something to do.
When I got bored last weekend, I read a book instead. I was so much less bored than I was when I tried to quell my boredom with the Internet.
Harvey, Your reflections on the pitfalls of constant multi-tasking are spot on. I'd add to that list of repurcussions, is a general reluctance to engage in any relationship or activity that may require a greater time commitment. We've become addicted to the sound bite and the pithy phrase, never bothering to dig deeper to what the substance or meaning in beneath the surface. Stay human my friend!
I used to work for an eco-travel company and had to argue with some guests that the POINT of going out into the middle of nowhere was to NOT use your phone/email/twitter/facebook/camera. You were supposed to BE there, not capturing there or sharing there or documenting there or commenting on there. It was clear that these folks didn't really understand the value in NOT being anywhere but present, and they didn't understand how their constant connection to other places and people undermined the group dynamics.