I’ve come to harbor a degree of resentment toward adults due to their relentless condemning of Generation Y, my generation, as a collective mass of futile shit. But like many of my peers, I simply wrote off their hypercritical perception as stubborn, turned a blind eye to their flak and drowned out the disapproval by playing that Icona Pop song from 2012 at an ear shattering volume as a fine, little “fuck you kindly.”
With the exception of a few anomalies, I think we are in fact more capable of good than we are of evil, especially in terms of navigating our rapidly changing society. I widely considered my generation to be falsely accused of ineptitude. That is, until I caught wind of two middle school-aged girls who used a wicked, Internet character as rationale to allegedly stab their friend to near-death.
On May 31, 12-year-olds Morgan Geyser and Anissa Weier were charged with attempted first-degree homicide in connection with the stabbing of their classmate in Wukesha, Wisconsin. After luring their victim into local woods and stabbing her 19 times, the girls blamed their horrendous actions on a fictitious Wiki-villain named Slender Man. They claimed the crime was conducted as a means to curry the favor of Slender Man, which, yes, is absolutely as absurd and fucked-up as it sounds. The headline earned them our Assholes of the Week, and the question as to whether Geyser and Weier will be sentenced as adults or not continues to be discussed.
Via: Fox San Diego
Although the entire ordeal is unquestioningly blood curdling (and in all likelihood coming to a theater near you), perhaps the most eerie component is that two people could be driven to harm another human due purely to the computerized existence of an evildoer.
There seems to be an increasing disparity between what I consider to be the two halves of the Millennial Generation. This incongruence begins and ends with the application of digital technology. I feel that current college students and recent grads, myself included, barely escaped the compulsory toll of the digitized neurosis by the skin of our necks. Sure, we 20-somethings are always good for a full-length Snapchat story or filtered cup of fro-yo. And yes, we too experience a trivial surge of ecstasy as our profile pictures get closer to topping record-breaking likes. However, I can’t help but acknowledge the digital disparity of our younger generation that draws the line between “us” and “them”. Technology isn’t just a mechanism for efficiency or side hobby for those little fuckers — it’s a defining component of who they are.
Via: Fire Belly Marketing
The fact that two young girls can be so disillusioned by the Internet is not only unfathomably pathetic but also incredibly dangerous. It’s the latter tail of our generation, namely the high school to infantile range that are not simply using, but living through the constantly evolving realm of technology. I’ve always revered the age of self-publication as a beautiful outlet for self-expression and individual branding. Hell, look at the masses of bloggers signing multi-million dollar collaborative contracts with fashion retailers and renowned conglomerates seeking to cash in on the digital empires that they have created. It’s absolutely amazing that a single human can utilize their individuality to market their talents in a limitless, virtual environment. That is where Group A of the Millennial generation has come, saw, conquered and revolutionized. It’s Group B that appears to be seriously screwed. Why? Because their lives aren’t being enhanced by the Internet. They’re being consumed by it.
As Spike Jonze and all reasonable logic go to show, you can’t substitute tangible, human interactions with those that take place within your MacBook Pro, even if it does have Scarlett Johansson’s voice. That quipping, online persona that every middle-schooler kills themselves to cultivate could be wiped out in a nanosecond, and then what? They’re left staring at the void space in between their palms where they once gently cradled their iPhones until manically spiraling into depression. And that, my friends, is no bueno.
Via: Public Queue
It’s unnerving to be classified as a member of a talentless, egocentric batch of assholes, especially when you consider yourself the polar opposite. However, the problem runs deeper than collective reputation. Cultural problems are arising from the way the Internet is being used, and it’s time people deviate their attention toward creating solutions instead of creating stereotypes.
Featured photo courtesy of: StreetArtNews.com
