I Think That…
There is a lot of argument about the traits that are particular to Gen Y. Some call us entitled; some call us tech-savvy; some call us impatient; some call us generous; some call us liberal. Amid all these opinions about traits, there are at least two facts that are irrefutable. The first is that Gen Y is the most educated generation ever. The second is that Gen Y was the first generation to grow up with the use of personal computers and the internet. These two facts lead me to an opinion about Gen Y: We are too opinionated.
Once upon a time in school, I remember being taught that all arguments needed to be supported by facts. Now, I spend a considerable amount of time reading on the web. Much of the content I consume is created by Gen Y, and there’s a visible trend in that content. You no longer need to craft a careful argument to have an opinion.
A generation ago, Boomers also had opinions. However, the lack of an easy publishing platform meant that they couldn’t broadcast those opinions to the world. Now, with web access being ubiquitous in the developed world, every time Gen Y has an opinion on something, it makes sure it’s published for the world, or at least its closest friends, to see.
Opinions, however, are like a drug. The more you express them, the more of them you have, and the greater your need to express those too. As such, Gen Y has created a mindset that it must have an opinion on everything from a political debate, to the quality of the pie at the new pizza place down the street.
High levels of education facilitate this fact. In my opinion, university education is rarely about cramming your head full of facts, instead it’s about creating points of view and crafting arguments. Thus, we have a generation trained to create arguments, and have opinions. The problem comes outside of the classroom, where the need to do the hard part of arguing – supporting the argument with facts – disappears and it becomes easier, and addictive, to simply state one’s opinion.
The explosion of broadcasting tools is a great example of this. Young people have flocked to blogging to express all of the opinions in their heads in written form, or if not writing, then video blogging. And if those two forms of expressing opinion are too onerous, there’s always updating Facebook or Twitter statuses with one’s up-to-the-minute opinion of everything and anything.
While being opinionated is important, it’s also scary to think of a whole generation of opinionators. News becomes nothing more than a mass of editorials from people who may or may not be qualified to write them. This is an important distinction, because while everyone has the right to an opinion, it does not mean that all opinions are created equal. Some people’s opinions on a topic are worth more than others’ because of their backgrounds and their knowledge of the facts. Often, we confuse opinion with expertise, and anyone with enough knowledge to formulate an opinion — in other words, anyone with enough knowledge to formulate a sentence — deems themselves an expert.
Education and the web are both wonderful things that have given Gen Y tremendous advantages. However, they’ve both also facilitated one of the most obnoxious traits of our generation. We can’t not have an opinion on any matter, and frankly, it’s exhausting. Some matters are not worth having opinions on. Others may well be worthy of opinions, but that doesn’t mean that everyone needs to have one. I think Gen Y could do with a little more indifference from time to time.
Then again, that’s just one guy’s opinion.
Photo by Obie Fernandez
Adam,
I agree that we might be a bit too opinionated and that we often express our opinions on every possible platform. But is it entirely our fault since we often have an audience that listens to our opinions? The other aspect of the issue goes back to the audience. We might not always create credible or well-structured arguments, but it is the audience's responsibility to judge whether the content we create is credible. If they don't find it credible, why do they consume it?
Addy –
Yes, it is entirely our fault. Our opinions have become clutter. They're everywhere, and often unavoidable for any audience that moves deeper than the very surface of an issue.
You can't blame people for paying attention to something that's thrown in their face. The worst thing you could do is look at the audience with a concerned smile and say, “Please, honey. You're only encouraging them.”
Since we use so many forms of communications, we end up setting a fair bit of the agenda due solely to being so prolific with our opinions. Another example of this would be the rise of the Christian Right in electoral politics – Karl Rove used a reliance on hot-button issues (see: abortion, gay marriage) to turn elections into a game of ideological Red Rover. Yes, this was done with many other issues in past politics, but Rove needed the Religious Right to get more involved so he could win an election.
It's classic agenda setting. The opinions don't have to be well-structured and coherent to be considered. They just have to appear en masse.
George Saunders wrote an excellent essay called “The Braindead Megaphone” about this very subject. It mostly discusses the news media, but the sentiment is definitely there.
Also, excellent post, Adam.
“Opinions, however, are like a drug. The more you express them, the more of them you have, and the greater your need to express those too.”
I don't know that we have MORE opinions than we would without outlets to express them. Having an opinion is just the effect of hearing about something — so, really, I think the Internet, Twitter, all these outlets have made us have more opinions, but only because they've allowed us to have access to far more information than we may have before.
Also, I do agree with Addy. As with any outlet for information, it's up to the user to determine how credible an argument is. I actually tend to think, so to speak, the louder/more prevalent the shouting is about an opinion, the less credible it is (replace quantity with quality) — take Sam's Christian Right example.