This year’s college graduates are supposedly deluded about their job prospects and devoid of empathy — probably because technology has rotted their brains. To find out if this was true, I decided to ask one: my brother.
My brother Danny graduated this month with a degree in philosophy, and in between looking for jobs, he agreed to talk to me over the “Me-Me-Me MySpace generation”-approved medium of instant messenger (I tried to Facebook chat with him, but I couldn’t figure out how to save our chat because I am old). Over the course of our hourlong conversation (which I’ve cut down a bit), I learned that my brother may not be a narcissist, but he does spend a lot of time on Facebook — and though he may be part of the “why-worry generation,” he worries about this too. Below, the highlights of our chat:
On technology:
me: first up: how much do you use facebook?
danny: mulitple times a day, i probably check it 5 to 6 times a day, depending on how bored i am
me: ok — do you update your status regularly (you can tell i dont check it frequently, because i have no idea)
danny: hahaha, no not really, the status thing is kind of weird because you sort of have to talk about yourself in the third person, i only use the status update for posting cool links to music videos or songs or to talk about how good the lakers are
me: haha ok — so do you have a twitter?
danny: no i dont and ive actually never even been to a twitter page, the whole followers thing seems really weird to me also haha
me: ha wow ok — it is weird to me too and i do it daily
how much do you text, would you say?
danny: way too much, i couldnt tell you how many texts i send per day but i know the last phone bill had like $170 in text charges lol
me: ha wow
danny: its hard not to text because thats like the primary form of communication with all of my friends
but i have to cut down because dad was not happy lol
me: yeah i bet 🙂
[…]
me: so do you think technology (ie fb, texting but also internet in general, even video games) has influenced how you see the world?
danny: ya so much its kind of scary, and i see it in all of my friends too especially those with iphones who can go on facebook on their iphone because then they can be connected to it 24/7
its definitely changed the way i like read the news and communicate with people
me: can you think of a specific example of how it’s changed those things?
danny: hmm
me: like has it shortened your attn span or stuff like that?
danny: well its changed in both good and bad ways, like its great to be able to keep in touch with a ton of old friends through facebook and to see what they are up to and to see all their pictures and movies and stuff, but i definitely spend much more time on my computer and i usually have like 5 or 6 windows open with facebook, news, email, fantasy sports, etc.
yes its definitely shortened my attention span, i dont spend much time on any one web page im constantly surfing through different things much faster than i used to
and whenever i get home usually the first thing i do is go on my computer and check email, facebook, fantasy stats, and the most up to date news and blogs and stuff
so i feel more connected to technology and dependent on it
me: that makes sense
(i do that stuff too a lot of the time, and am definitely kind of freaked out when i don’t have internet)
danny: like yesterday my cell phone died and i felt really weird without it and both [his girlfriend] and mom and dad thought i had died or something
me: hahaha
danny: and it really annoyed me that they freaked out so much when my phone had been dead for only like a few hours
it made me feel way too dependent on it
[…]
On careers:
me: ok so to switch gears a little bit to career stuff: what kind of jobs are you looking for right now?
danny: thats a tough question because i haven’t really started looking as much as i should, i still have to finish my resume and such, but i really want to find something that i am happy doing and that could lead to good opportunities down the road
i would prefer an office job or something like that over retail or serving food tho, not that those jobs are bad or that i wouldnt do them but i think it would be cool to work at business or advertising or something
i also have a lot of friends in la who are going into the entertainment industry and ive always been into making music so if i could find something in that area that would be awesome but that could also be kind of unstable and hard to establish myself in
ultimately tho if i dont find something good i may go back to school and get a masters so i could teach and do something with my philosohpy degree
me: cool, sounds like you have a lot of ideas
so, what do you expect in terms of work-life balance? like, are you willing to work really long hours to get ahead?
or is it important to you to have a job w more flexibility/shorter hours
danny: obviously i cant be too picky at the moment but for my career i would want something with more flexibility because being able to have a social life and to spend time with my friends and go out and do things, that stuff is more important to me than making a ton of money
me: makes sense
danny: but making enough money to live comfortably is also important to me