Observations of Millenials

Observations of millenials

Often times people comment on how quiet I am, some see it as a positive some see it as a negative. To me, it's just who I am. Often times, due to my quietness I also just sit and observe. Sometimes, I'm able to pick up on things that others don't quite see. Today, the observation anyone can make but it just reminded me how much social activity is important to me.

Throughout the workweek, I work with college students of all different ages, traditional students and non-traditional students. In many cases, there are quite a few similarities however there is one case that each student always views differently and that is technology. My "traditional" students can't live without an I-pod, their blackberries, facebook, myspace, e-mail etc. My non-traditional students would much rather call and talk to me in person or stop in for a face-face to appointment. I've even had a few students that didn't quite know how to register because they were still learning how to use a computer. Some of these students have made the comment that the don't like today's technology because it replaces "real" conversations and important "face-to-face" communication. In which, I do have to agree.

Most of the week, I take the bus to and from work and just and observe. The only electronic I have is my cell phone which I do sometimes use to text but I have a strict policy for myself to not talk on the phone while on the bus. Usually, I in the middle and watch minimal interactions between people. Today, I arrived to the bus stop just in time to hop in which meant I would be sitting up front, close to the driver. On our way to Uptown, the driver made a couple of announcements stating that the GoTo pass (an unlimited bus ride pass) machine was not working and to just show him our cards as we were getting off the bus. A pretty simple step, and he made sure to announce it a couple times. Our first stop, everything runs smoothly. Our second stop, a couple people get out using the system he asked us to use, the last person goes to run her card on the machine. It's not working so she runs it again, and again, and again. Meanwhile, the bus driver is politely asking her to just show him the card. Underneath her hat is a large headphone piece connected to her MP3 player so she has no idea what is being said and just keeps trying and trying. After her sixth attempt, the bus driver finally taps her on the shoulder and tries to talk yet she keeps her headphones on and tries to swipe her card again. Still not working. Finally, she takes her headphones off and he explains. Not a word is said from the young lady as she shows him her card and her headphones go right back on her ears. Over the next three stops, there were 4 other people who had the same situation. To me, as an observer I just started wondering what the millennials would or how they would feel without their closeness to technology. How would they meet people? How would they communicate?

We're on a bus with 40 other people, and there is very little social interaction and the majority of people are in their own worlds listening to music, talking on the phone, or using some sort of electronic. What was life like 10 years ago without all of these items? Did we really have more face to face conversations or was it not so important?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not an opponent of electronics as I'm a daily user and addict to my cell phone. I just sometimes wonder what it would be like without these "extras".