The iGeneration

Bartlett senior Gail Concepcion is restless.

As the seconds in class drag, she gets out her phone and updates her Twitter status. Concepcion believes that if she couldn’t access her phone to text, tweet or check Facebook, she would go insane. “I tweet every single period of the day,” she said.

Her dependence on technology may define today’s teens. Some experts have dubbed those born after 1980 the iGeneration to emphasize the impact that the Internet, iPods, cell phones and other advances in technology have had on young people. Students and experts agree that technology has made information more accessible and communication easier. They notice positive and negative changes in the way young adults interact with and view the world, from good multi-tasking skills to shortened attention spans.

“(Teens) were probably online as soon as (they) could sit up and probably sent (their) first e-mail when (they) were 2,” said Larry Rosen, a professor at California State University-Dominguez Hills who wrote the book, “Rewired: Understanding the iGeneration and the Way They Learn.”

Many teens, he said, “spend, essentially, every waking hour on some form of media.”

Unlike older generations, many in the iGeneration rely on sites such as Facebook and Twitter to maintain social lives. As a result, some teens, such as Concepcion, believe technology allows them to meet new people easily online, but it takes away from face-to-face interaction. “In high school, if I friend someone on Facebook and we talk about class or something, they’re easier to talk to the next day,” she said. “But a lot of people don’t take the time to talk in person.”

Meanwhile, when Plainfield North senior Ben Yu was accepted to the University of Chicago, he friended people on the school’s Facebook group for prospective students. Yu said he doesn’t think the friendships he’s creating are artificial. He says he can talk to people without distance being a factor.

“There are, of course, the critics that claim that Web sites have made relationships more superficial, limited to a few wall posts here and there, but I don’t think that argument holds,” he said.

Rosen said the iGeneration is redefining the way relationships are formed.

“The word ‘friend’ has changed,” he said. “It’s no longer about the same kind of friendship the parents grew up with.”

Technology’s impact may be so deep that it has changed people psychologically. According to San Diego State University professor and author Jean Twenge, it promotes a focus on the individual. Her 2006 book “Generation Me” analyzes changes in the psychology of the iGeneration. She believes that sites such as YouTube make it easier for ordinary people to get their 15 minutes of fame. She also thinks Twitter and Facebook can make young people more narcissistic because they are creating pages all about themselves.

“On Twitter, you’re supposed to post exactly what you’re doing and assume people will care,” she said. “I think technology has contributed to this self-centeredness.”

The informal language on Twitter or text messages may have also changed the way teens speak.

It’s something Tiffany Batiste-Gilmore, an American literature teacher at Walter Payton, sees at school. She said she notices misspellings, abbreviated words and text lingo in a number of student papers, as well as informality in the way teens talk.

She attributes the trend to instant communication and teens’ inability to alter their speech in different situations.

“Colloquial speech has become the greatest form of English I hear from students,” she said. “There is no distinction between the arenas in which they speak.”

Students’ ability to concentrate may also be different because of technology. Twenge believes that search engines expose students to short excerpts of information and it’s easier for teens to scan text and multi-task rather than read books.

Prosser senior David Rangel feels instant information can make it harder for people to focus.

“Students are starting to rely on search engines for help than rather asking their teacher for tutoring,” Rangel said.

However, Rosen said the digital world has many positive effects on teens. He believes interacting with technology helps this generation develop multi-tasking abilities and allows them to boldly express thoughts and ideas.

“This is a generation of electronic communicators. They feel exceedingly comfortable being honest behind screen—being self-disclosing, uninhibited,” he said. “They say what’s on their mind, be it benign or toxic.”

Experts believe the iGeneration’s dependence on technology may also affect the workplace and relationships in their adult lives. Twenge is worried that connections between people will be more superficial because teens often communicate electronically. She said this may affect serious relationships in the future.

“Once you’re in a serious relationship, you have to be able to talk to each other rather than text,” she said.

In addition, Rosen said, a gap could form between iGeneration members and employees from older generations once they enter the workforce.

“The younger generation works on a different schedule. Multi-taskers don’t like meetings or any kind of progress reports,” he said. “They just want deadlines for when things are due and then they do it. Older people believe in to-do lists and things like that.”

No matter what the future holds, experts and students agree that technology has made life easier for teens.

Prosser junior Joey Marsala, for one, can’t imagine life without the Internet.

“People would be devastated without it, not only for personal reasons but also for work reasons,” he said.