Disadvantage of Using Technology on Millennial Generation

Thesis: Well-developed technology such as smartphone and personal computer has several negative effects on the Millennial Generations. Most of Millennial generations use Internet through computers and smartphones because it makes life easier and convenience otherwise, make people lazier and increase population of social phobia due to dependence on online network technology such as Facebook, Tweeter, MySpace and etc. Therefore it’s very important to use social network technology properly and wisely in Millennial Generation. A lot of people didn’t think about disadvantage to having good technology these days because most people think that well-developed technology is always good but it’s not true.
Body Paragraph:  For the past 50 years, most of job required human power but it changed these days. The well-developed technology makes people life much convenient. For example, computer program will automatically calculate the problems or machine life heavy burden without human power. Those fast technology development will keep develop in future much faster and make people live quality life, but its not always good because it make people’s lifestyle change in bad way. Many of Millennial Generation have Internet access most likely everywhere. Especially 100% of college students have to have Internet access because of schoolwork. Carlson said “Millennials have already been pegged and defined by academics, trend spotters, and futurists: They are smart but impatient, they expect results immediately and they carry an arsenal of electronic devices”(1). Millennial Generations are exceedingly used to electronic devices such as smartphone, laptop and tablet PC. Those devices are very useful and helpful while studying because it helps to find information that people want to know immediately but people only focus on answers, not the around. For example, one student has a question about some problem so student typed in Google and trying to find an answer. This “Google” web site is very useful tool but not helpful for student to study because it makes students not to read textbook or notes.
Well-developed technology environment is not good as always because technology cost a lot, so some of students cannot afford new laptop and electronic devices need to have for school.  Also make student it makes gap between wealthy and poor students. For example, one of my friend’s major is photography, so he needs to use a lot of Photoshop software, which is, require a good spec of computer such as “Macbook”. Macbook is quite expensive then normal computer. It cost almost $1,500. My friend didn’t have a job so he can’t afford Macbook. He studies at school all the time whenever he need photo jobs. He said it’s also embarrassed to tell his friend that he can afford Macbook. Therefore sometimes it makes some people’s gap between rich people and poor people.

Another negative effect of technology is people in Millennial Generations are very dependence on computer system and electricity. Almost every college use online accounts to study or download study materials. It is so comfortable because some of instructor post class note online and student can just download it. According to Scott “Student elected to work in a group and skip a particular class.” (3) This easy computer system make student not to taking a note in class because it will be upload it online, it makes student lazy. Also if student can’t access due to school server is down, it makes student frustrated because they can’t not do anything because most students are already used to computers. If electricity is down, it’s even worse. In Millennial Generation are using electricity everywhere such as smartphone, computer and even most of home appliances. When electric discharge, a lot of ME generations can’t not do most thing they do in normal. For example, if electricity cut off while typing a document, it will erase whole text that was typed and also cannot access to Internet and electric light will be disable. Those few example, shows dependence of computer system and electricity in ME generation. Most important part is health issue while using technology. ME Generation always use wireless devices nowadays, a lot of people does not recognize how bad is wireless device. All of the wireless device use frequency and electromagnetic wave and those two side effects will make human sick.

ME Generations are wide open from privacy through Internet. Once SNS (Social Network Site) popular, many people upload their pictures on their own webpage and share with another. According to Marshall, “ME Generations expect graphical highly intuitive user interfaces.”(2) This technology is very useful because it makes people communicate much better than communicating face o face. Otherwise be due to uploading pictures and videos much easier than past, people misuse this SNS. For example, some people take picture or video random people and upload it t their website without permission. It makes people frustrated and some people become a suicide if someone posts something bad about them. Actually SNS is not the only problem. Online shopping and online banking account is worse. Online shopping and online banking is so easy and very useful it people don’t have a time to actually go to mall and shopping and let them pay online but its also risky because soon as people pay online, there is possibility that all the password, bank account number could be disclose to computer hackers. In my experience, I opened my online banking account few years ago, and I purchased something from online store. After few weeks I purchase, I check my online bank account and somebody used my credit card from another state. I was so shock that it’s really easy to disclose my personal information through online. There are really good security protections on online backing but I think offline banking is much safe because you can control credit card in the hand.

 Lastly, well-developed technology makes people be social phobia or social anxiety disorder because convenience technology makes people spend more time on computers and machines therefore people trying to hangout with friend online and people using Skype instead of visiting parents house on thanksgiving. In my view of ME Generation, we are very shy to talk with people. Online chatting is much comfortable. For future generation and current generation is getting worse. For example, my niece is 10 years old and he always plays with Nintendo DS, which is portable gaming device. When he comes visit my house, he doesn’t even say “hello.” He is straight to find electricity outlet that will recharge his Nintendo DS. Problem is many of his age group is about the same. If this generation gets old, we will have serious problem. As people see on SF movie, people all living with robots; it can be a true in near future.

          

Not With Words: The Millennial Generation’s New Literacy

Thesis
Millennial's use of digital technology has moved them far beyond the simple text-based literacy. They use non-print forms of communication, make use of visual and sensory elements, and creatively integrate their technology to form a new, multimodal literacy.

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This multimodal communication, the combination between Gen Y’s digital technology and their non-text expressions, has already begun to enter and affect the world. Since Gen Y is coming into age, entering and leaving college, getting jobs, etc., business and companies have begun to advertise and work with their form of communication. Gen Y members also use their multimodal communication, daily in fact, just by going onto the internet which is ripe with an abundance of sites that communicate with multiple mediums. The website Youtube is the perfect example of this. Many businesses as well as thousands of not millions of millennials have an account there. It is here that one can see the variety of literacies that people use and combine. Multimodal literacy is, as Marcus puts it, “a global phenomenon, and there is no going back” (1934).

It is something which is already being studied quite extensively. For example, the Chief Executive Officer of the New Media Consortium, an international association of hundreds of universities, colleges, museums, research centers, and technology companies, Larry Johnson has begun to research and categorize the many different literacies that Gen Y has created or use, calling them the “new media literacy” (72). As stated before, while Gen Y obviously uses digital literacy and visual literacy, they use many other modes of communication as well. These others that have been identified are linguistic, audio, spatial, and gestural literacy (Graham and Benson 95). Linguistics is, of course, nothing new, being simply the dialogue between people. Audio is, naturally, music and sound effects. Spatial literacy is the “reading” and analyzing of the use of space, such as how a desk is decorated. Gestural is another basic communication recognized and identified by Generation Y students as body language.

Millennials Aspirations: The Unrealistic Dream Of Becoming A Professional Athlete

Thesis:

In the Millennial Generation young male athletes are willing to do anything for the greed of fame, they believe they can achieve this dream because of their eminent confidence, and they are not immersed on the effects this aspiration may carry.

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One of the main reasons why young males are so prone with the idea of becoming a professional athlete is because of the thirst they have for money and fame. This means that the actual sport is what matters the least and that public apperance is more important to these athletes. As claimed by psychology professors Atiles, Deborah, and Gibbons, "Although adolences admire athlete abilities, they may more greatly admire the rewords those abilities provide  the athletes: money, enhancement of status, adoration, and the admiration of women" (Atiles, Deborah, and Gibbons, 1080). It's not so much the love these athletes have for the sport but more about the life they want to live because of the sport. Sharon Jayson, a english writer, claims, " MTV and reality TV are in large part fueling these youth full desires" (Jayson, 1) With the glamorous lives of celebrity's that are shown by the media it is not surprising that young athletes want to live that life as well. These aspiring athletes look up to those making the most money in the industry and obssesively strive to be just like these professional athletes. The belief of this unrealistic dream had lead these young athletes to believe that they easily can get rich and famous; but yet they fail to realize how competative the sport industry is.The idea of popularity plays a big part in this industry and that's exactly what these athletes resemble. Being a professional athlete has become such a strong ambition that these young boys are willing to do anything to get to the top. For instance, the illegal use of steroids amongst athletes is a way of cheating their way up. Joshua Feinberg, a psychology professor at St. Peter's College, argues that, "Athletic cheating has been one of the major sports headlines over the past several years" (Feinberg, 461). Feinberg studies have also shown that the use of steroids can eaither increase or decrease the way athletes perform (Feinberg, 465). Aspiring athletes are willing to break the rules on the use of steroids to reach their goal all for the love of money. Previous generations never had this problem. In fact, according to psychology professors, Atiles, Deborah, and Gibbons, Generation X actually enjoys playing sports and care less about money ( Atiles, Deborah, and Gibbons, 1082). The desire of adolences seems to have a deeper meaning; the aspiration of becoming a professional athlete is more described as greed rather than something these young athletes are passionate about.

Informality Amongst the Millennial Generation

Thesis:
            Compared to other generations, the Millennial Generation has lost the ability to stay away from informality in the areas of communication, formal wear, and behavior in the work place.
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            When speaking to authority figures, it is rare to hear “sir” or “ma’am” leave the tongues of this new age bracket. The Millennial Generation (born between 1982-1990s) has adapted a very casual way of communication with all levels of individuals. Even in emails to professors, one will substitute the word “you” for “u.” We use day-to-day slang when speaking to our bosses or parents, and we believe that we can talk to whomever we want, however we want. We say what is on our mind very boldly and without hesitation. Lynne Lancaster, author of The M-Factor: How the Millennial Generation is Rocking the Workplace, reiterates this notion when she says, “Xers and Millennial seem to have no problem being upfront with higher-ups, which isn’t always appreciated” (2). My own experience confirms Lancaster’s point of view. While in calculus class, the president of the University of Houston, Renu Khator, paid a surprise visit. During this time, a student impolitely and consistently interrupted her, talking to her loosely as if he was talking to a foe rather than someone to be respected. Moreover, the Millennial Generation, children of Generation X-ers (born between 1964-1982), valued autonomy, flexibility, and informality. One might wonder how we became so informal in communicating with other individuals. The fault lies on the shoulders of our parents. Generation X was raised by parents of wealth, the Baby Boomer generation. The Baby Boomers were raised in the growing economy and sexual revolution (Fogg 27). This means Generation X did not have to pay too much attention in the work place because of the confident and wealthy background in which they grew up. This confident characteristic has been passed down to the Millennial Generation and contributes to their informal attitudes at work. In today’s society, we deliver “in a care-fully diplomatic or casually frank style” (Lancaster 2). Again, my experience in the work place strengthens Lancaster’s point of view. My store manager comments very freely on how her associates are doing - often cursing or even putting down her employees. This informal communication style results from a domino effect that originated during the time of Generation X and then passed down to their children of the Millennial Generation, causing such an informal and laid back work environment. There is not much evidence for the opposing side of the argument saying language has not grown and developed in a negative direction since the Baby Boomer era.
 

Thesis

Narcissism in the Millennial Generation is increasing every year because of parents, schools, and the media boosting the children's self-esteem for no reason and narcissism leads to very aggressive people who are not pleasant to be around and that cannot take criticism.

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Parents are our care keeper, our protectors, and the basis of who we are, how we act, and if we take that turn into narcissism.  Through their parenting and how they raise us they play a huge part in who we are as a person.  My parents played an enormous part in who I am and how I act.  They taught me manners, how to talk to adults, they taught me not to be prideful, and they taught me to love the lord.  This is not the case for many of the millennia's sadly.  Twenge says "Boomer parents 'are more likely than their parents were to praise children -- and maybe over praise them"'(7). They are grown up with their parents constantly telling them they are special and perfect just the way they are.  At first this sounds like an amazing parenting job but intern this is the start to children developing narcissism.  When you praise a child for no other reason than he is alive it causes them to think that they are this amazing perfect person and it only builds.  It takes away from their ability to want to try or do better because who wants to try when they are constantly praised for doing nothing.  This sense of self worth for nothing other than being alive just builds and builds until they believe they are this perfect person who deserves and get what they want or in other words narcissism.  When this attitude hits the real world, their whole view of the world is torn asunder.  Elias Marilyn says "Millennials or Gen Y young people may be heading for a fall when their self-esteem is punctured by reality"(7).  When a person comes into the world thinking they deserve anything they want, that they are perfect, when reality hits hard.  They realize they are not this perfect person and they realize that even they can fail.  This is very hard for a person with narcissism to see that they are not perfect and even they can fail.  This devastates them and can lead to depression. Parents are the one of the main causes for this self obsessed behavior that can lead to narcissism and if we learn from their mistakes we can make sure that we do not raise another generation of narcissist.

Millenial Generation in the NBA

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“He's the best player in the game. It's just that simple. There's nothing that Kobe Bryant can't do…” Those are only a few words that were enthusiastically shouted by an NBA analyst, in the introduction of a song that Lil Wayne, a well known rapper, made about Kobe Bryant. This is only one small part of my argument that the NBA has evolved over generations, specifically in the millennial generation. The game has become globally involved; it is because of the diversification that has taken place within the whole game. The NBA is now made up of different races; versatile players and new personas added by the hip hop culture.

        



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Millennials have evolved the NBA to make it globally involved with it now consisting of many different races. There are more international players in the NBA now than ever before and the reason behind this is because we have big names like Yao Ming, Dirk Nowitzki, Ricky Rubio, Manu Ginobili, and Jeremy Lin contributing to the internationalization. Entering the 2010-2011 season an all-time record high of 84 international players was set in the NBA. I could not put it in any better words than Thomas Oates and Judy Polumbaum as they wrote in the Agile Big Man: The Flexible Marketing of Yao Ming, “Beyond [Yao’s] utility as corporate pitchman and draw for his team, Yao Ming’s presence on an NBA roster is hugely important to the league’s design for global expansion” (194). As Yao Ming’s existence on an NBA team is globally promoted, millennial generation kids from all over the world are influenced to play the game of basketball and follow their dreams to play at the professional level since they see that it is possible for different races other than Americans or African Americans to play in the NBA. “At the same time, Yao Ming brings an unfamiliar model to the hyper-masculine arena of US-style commoditized basketball,” (191) argued Oates and Polumbaum, which is in fact really good for the NBA because it brings variety to the sport. The variety in the sport is what makes people want to watch because they can feel more into the game as they can root for their own race or country that different players may be representing. It is a big reason why basketball is one of the most popular sports in our generation. In an interview of my basketball basketball coach, Roland Watts, who played in the NBA Development league and also coached my high school team and I, leading us to win the State Championship, I was able to ask him personally how he felt about the NBA being so internationally involved now and he answered passionately, “I LOVE IT! It’s great because the NBA is not limited to just the best of one city, state, or country, these are the best of the world.” The NBA now, even has foreign players drafted straight from overseas that get the opportunity to display their talents on All Star weekend. The opportunity for foreign players helps the sport grow and makes it more fun with a variety of international players, playing a different type of game because of where they are from. For example, Ricky Rubio from Spain is a point guard and growing up in a soccer country playing and watching soccer in his younger years helps him in his style of play, passing the ball with smartness and accuracy. “He can pass that ball,” are the exact words that even superstar Lebron James has tweeted after seeing him play in his first season (2011-2012) in the NBA. In the sport of soccer the way to win is by passing the ball, Ricky Rubio’s ability to see the open court with his peripheral vision aids his decision making that coaches love about him and what foreign players can bring to the game.

What Happened to Going to Church?

Thesis: The Millennial Generation has a different sense of spirituality than previous generations in which they have lost their sense of tradition, have the freedom to choose any religion (or not) and fail to commit or participate in one.

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Millennials no longer attend church services as much because they feel they are no longer bound by age-old traditions passed down by their predecessors. Traditions like attending church as a family, volunteering in a ministry or church events are things now uncommon among Generation Y. They don’t feel that sense of duty their parents and grandparents once did. The reason is because Generation Me was raised to believe that they’re special, that they should do what makes them happy and to not worry what others think. Back then it was the other way around. People would put everyone and everything first before even thinking of themselves. Amy Frykholm argues about GenMe’s ancestors in Loose Connections, “They created and enthusiastically participated in voluntary organizations, including churches. Americans were not constrained by duty or tradition to join churches, but they did” (2). Meaning they weren’t literally forced to but still did because that’s how they were raised. When asked how many millennials were volunteering at our church, Father Jose Salazar who’s a priest at Corpus Christi Catholic Church quickly answered, “Not enough. Overall, the amount of young people volunteering here is at about 15-20%.” I wasn’t surprised, there are a lot of young people that go to our church but the majority of them are forced to attend because of their parents. And from that group, only a third of those people are actually involved in church related activities or groups. Alan Miller and Takashi Nakamura have found in their study, On the Stability of Church Attendance Patterns During a Time of Demographic Change: 1965-1988 that, “Post-WWII cohorts attend church far less frequently than their predecessors” (8). Alan Miller is a member of the Faculty of Letters at Hokkaido University located in Sapporo Japan. Takashi Nakamura is faculty of the Institute of Statistical Mathematics located in Tokyo, Japan. Miller and Nakamura used a survey ranging from the year 1972 to 1990 called the cumulative General Social Survey along with other studies from the past, all focusing on church attendance among Americans nationwide. Miller and Nakamura come to find that, “…the baby boomers appear to be no different from previous cohorts in that increased age leads to increased religiosity. Although as a cohort they attend church far less frequently than their predecessors, results show that as they age they display the expected increases in church attendance” (7). Could it be possible that Generation Y will also attend church more as they age? Or could it be that they want to be traditional just like their parents? When asked if he noticed an increase or decrease in attendance by millennials over the past few years, Father Salazar happily said, “I’ve noticed an increase in attendance because I think that more and more people want to have those traditions back and they also want to feel more like their parents.” It could be maturity kicking in for the millennials. Nevertheless, they’re still being raised to do whatever they feel is right for them.