FLAUNT - The Generation Issue

E
very generation has a great challenge; Ours is seen to institutionally reinvent
the world. As true digital natives built on the desire for change, this desire
stems from the digital age we were born into, and the constant advances
developing through technology. While exploring one’s consciousness, our
sense of self is constantly being challenged. Since Generation Y is constantly
‘On,’ and connected, technology is considered a critical part of our life and work.
This necessity, has allowed us to become an educated youth, by the accessibility
we have to instantaneous media and information. News, to music, fashion, and
human interaction is always at access from a screen, just at the end of our finger
tips. It’s evident that technology is quickly changing every industry, however,
there is a heightened concern that this digital revolution is consuming our
generation. The Y generation is already known for being digital multi-taskers,
which we tend to switch devices and platforms up to twenty-seven times, every
hour. Not to mention, making a routine of initially checking their phones in the
morning. With something that has become so normal, how do we decipher if we
are digitalized or desensitized?
Technically...by considering that the obvious attachment we have to our phones
is normal, defines our consumption and desensitization to technology. We’re
already glitching, or are we just being the magnificently flawed, and inherently,
dependent human beings, that needs to be with one another. In reality, our future
is driven by data and powered by intuition. “Inspiration is a matter of sensitivity,”
Van Herpen said. “It is the ability to collect from the past, present, and future,
as they shift past us simultaneously.” Everyday there is something new that is
presented to consumers to peak our interest or educate us, but is easily forgotten
and glossed over with the next “new” creation.
In fact, I believe that technology is what is causing us humans, and the Y generation
to ‘glitch.’ With the high volume of extreme advancements in technology it’s
difficult to keep track of what is going on, whether it is a new gadget, social
media, or medical procedure, etc. It doesn’t allow the consumer to understand
it and become acclimated. There are also stipulations of new technologies being
developed too fast that they, themselves glitch. Our exposure to graphic news
and media has been tainted by digital and social media posted everywhere
that its no longer provocative. We are now capable of posting images, videos,
and saying whatever we’d like immediately or simultaneously, for others to see.
Generation Y and the Millennials are very involved with social media; We become
more focused on our identity that is perceived online than our personal self, thus
being consumed by technology.