By Renato Andrade

Another edition of the “Results ON Day” took place in São Paulo, this time on the theme of social media.

Besides for the latest tendencies, research, and case studies about social networks (Twitter, Orkut, Facebook, blogs, etc), Gen Y’s behavior and life online was a topic of frequent discussion.

Here, I’ve made a summary of 12 topics which were commented on during the debates by 8 social media experts.

- Network, follow interesting people on Twitter, participate in blogs and virtual debates. Sign up for classes that have to do with your work or other interests. Personal tip: Many classes that are advertised on social networks are also transmitted via the web.

-Everything you write online is monitored, even if it’s unconscious it can influence the success and price of a product. A question on Twitter like, “What cell should I be” or “Buy the cell phone by brand X” is constantly evaluated by advertising agencies specializing in digital marketing.

-We live in the era of the impatient consumer, also a characteristic of Gen Y. Businesses spend fortunes to serve and comprehend this new generation.

- The consumer today has the following thought process: “I want everything now, or I’m going to cry very loudly!” this is the infantilization of the Internet.

-I’ve read almost everything on “Cloud Computing.” It’s the buzz word right now, and is being used by companies like AT&T, Dell, HP, IBM, Intel, Microsoft e Yahoo.

-Specialists in education believe that University education is still important, but the mistake is creating the “package of courses” that the student will never use in the business world. In the future, it won’t make sense to study for 4 years if only a few classes are necessary for your work.

-Young people from other parts of the world don’t used social networks in the same way Brazilians do. The biggest social network in oriental culture is a version of Twitter where users have two accounts: one is their personal account and the other is a character which represents them. Because it’s such a conservative environment, full of military repression, individuals are afraid to show their true identity.

- Students are lost when they have to decide what they want to do with their lives. One reason for this is the lack of references and real knowledge when it comes to the future. Generation Y, in many cases, is the first of their family to pursue higher education.

-Different from the opportunities other generations had, it’s now easier to enroll in University. But there’s a lack of real role models and references when it comes to choosing one’s profession.

-Universities in the future need to help the student choose their profession. This isn’t happening today.

-The web has created a professional world which is more competitive and complex. Proof of this are new positions that are emerging (IT, webmaster, programmers, etc.) However businesses have a lot of trouble finding qualified professionals to carryout roles in these new departments.

-The majority of research regarding online behavior talks about generation Y, but executives (currently Baby Boomers for the most part) are the ones who navigate the web most.

In conclusion, participating in ResultsON Day made me realize that businesses are opening up space for consumers to give their opinions about products and services. Therefore, we should enjoy being a collaborator, and make use of the tools we have in the market, creating a virtual identity, which adds value to this universe.

What about you? Are you part of a virtual community exchanging ideas and information? What’s your opinion on the current use of social networks for young people?

Leave your comment here.

For more info visit:
http://resultson.com.br/day2009midias/

By Manuela Mesquita

There’s a lack of ethics in the world currently, especially in regards to young people, who haven’t been raised to talk about ethics in the family or in school.  This is the opinion of Yves de La Taille, a psychologist specializing in moral development.  He is also a Professor at the Institute of Psychology at USP (University of Sao Paulo.)  In an exclusive interview with Talking about generations, he speaks of the lack of ethics, linking it to a culture of boredom, in which quality of life doesn’t exist, and neither does respect for others.

How do you define ethics?  Is it a rigid concept or something that varies?   Does it intersect or confuse itself with the concept of morals?

It’s perfectly relevant to use the phrase “moral” as a synonym to ethics.  It pertains to the dimension of rules, duty, and what needs to be done.  When we speak of ethics, we think about rules that politicians should follow, which we could also call morals.

But there’s an important difference, which is the following: the word moral carries the connation of right and wrong, which implies how to act, thus making it normative.  The original meaning of ethics was “having a good life.”  It signifies reaching a certain quality of life, which of course takes others into consideration, as well as the notions of respect and justice.  It implies a life that has meaning and makes sense.

How do you perceive young people’s practice of ethics today?

Preserving the original meaning of the word ethics, if you ask me if young people have a good life, I would say that for most of them the answer is unfortunately, no.  Many young people don’t live a life with meaning.  They have superficial values, and they confuse the meaning of a good life, with fun and leisure.  They partake in activities that aren’t necessarily important.  Their use of cell phones or the Internet makes this clear.  I’m under the impression that many people use these technologies to try to kill their boredom.  I’m always surprised that when a plane lands, even after a 30 min flight, all the passengers, frantically turn on their cell phones.  We are currently living a time characterized by high rates of suicides and depression.  We live in a culture of boredom.  And young people live with this restlessness, in a very superficial manner.

Where do you think this superficiality comes from?  Does it have to do with the intense use of technology?

I don’t attribute the causes of a possible culture of boredom to technology.  I think that technology can feed this.  Through the Internet, for example, in which people have the possibility to communicate with everyone and no one in practice. However simply getting rid of cells phone and the Internet doesn’t fix the problem, it’s much more complex and multifaceted.

I attribute the problem more to the necessity to constantly consume, and the way consumerism becomes extremely linked to identity, and to other aspects of one’s life like politics.  Of course, it’s clear that young people are living in a world that we, the adults, have built.  I think that adults today, especially because of their own necessity for consumerism and fun, have somewhat given up on values and establishing deeper feelings.   We live in a society where celebrities are more important than feelings, deepness, and authority.  Without a doubt, the way we raise our kids in this world is the main problem.  It isn’t technology.

You talk about this culture of boredom.  Can you explain the concept a little more?

Boredom has two meanings, the normal one which occurs when you have to wait in a long line. And the second one, the deeper one, associated with depression and melancholy. To break away from this boredom, you may feel you need to have fun. You aren’t well, and so you try to keep busy every second.   Just like with the example of turning on cell phones right after the flight lands, checking your e-mail every second to see if you have received a new e-mail, is also a sign of boredom.  The culture of boredom is a metaphor for the contemporary world. This world lacks emotion and feeling.  Because of this, values, norms, and principles, are hindered.

In your opinion why, aren’t adults passing on moral values to young people?

I can’t identify a cause. It’s a social process, and it’s hard to identify the veritable roots.  Clearly though, adults and schools are failing.  School has given itself over to fun and leisure, there’s a lack of criticism, and this doesn’t give students the tools to develop their own critical capacity.

On social networks like Orkut, Facebook, etc, there’s the illusion of freedom of expression.  Young people say whatever they want. They may criticize people, businesses, or even co-workers.  How do you see this in terms of ethics?   Is it ethical to criticize people or institutions without something very concrete, in a virtual environment?

Of course, if you criticize or make a negative judgment, without any proof, or without some sort of respect, even if the criticism is valid, it becomes a moral problem.  This applies to criticism on the Internet and off the Internet as well.  It’s part of a larger question. If I criticize you, I should do it in a respectful manner, and with some concrete grounding.  This is where the question of morals fits in.  The second point is that the Internet works in the coward’s favor, in the sense that you become anonymous and distant.  You judge and you don’t assume responsibility.  Lastly, there’s a sort of unconsciousness that seems derived from the privatizing of public spaces.  For example, at the University, young people put up disrespectful things on their Orkut, MSN, or blogs.  This eventually becomes public, and creates a lot of drama and controversy.  I’ve spoken to these students, and they’ve told me that when they write things on the Internet, they do it in a “relaxed” manner.   But how can you write something like this in such a relaxed manner, especially if it is public?  What you write on the Internet, is read by people, and never erased completely.  If there’s one place where people should think very carefully about what they write, it’s on the Internet.   If you write something on the Internet, you really lose control.  This is the big paradox.

Currently parents aren’t raising their kids and educating them about how to behave in regards to this sort of communication.  Relaxed conversations can happen at a party not on the Internet.  This is a moral problem.  There’s a heavy use of technology, and very little consciousness in regards to how it should actually be used, and how dangerous it can be.

Recently a business sued a young person who criticized a business on his blog, without any concrete proof.  Young people like this are obviously exercising their freedom of speech.  Is writing this sort of opinion on your blog immoral?

I don’t see expressing criticism, with concrete foundation, on a blog as immoral. It is however immoral to damage the image or honor of a person or business.  This isn’t simply saying that you don’t like a certain product for instance.  If you say that a manufacturer lied, this isn’t moral, unless you have concrete proof.
But you phrased your question, with the word “opinion.”  An opinion is an opinion.  However, I don’t have the right to spread my opinions if they will hurt the honor or dignity of other people.

I can say that I don’t like a certain type of music.  But to talk about a person, damaging his or her ethical image, that’s an accusation.  One of the current trends of the culture of boredom is that everything becomes an opinion.  Again, we are faced with the superficial.  Certain themes aren’t a question of opinion.  This needs to be understood, and the knowledge of this needs to be deepened, or else we lose our freedom of expression, and this can harm our sense of morals.  Freedom isn’t an absolute value.  We have the freedom to come and go, yes.  But we don’t have the freedom to lie about a certain person, in the same way that we don’t have the freedom to put up signs of fascists or swastikas on the streets.

In your book “Nos Labirintos da Moral” (“The Labyrinth of Morals”) you talk about young people’s sense of urgency.  How do you perceive the future of these young people?  How do you see the creation of their values?

This is also a dimension of boredom.  The difficulty is to have patience, and to wait.  It’s something that doesn’t just affect young people, but also affects adults.  It’s negative because you become a hostage of technology, and you need to obtain things very quickly.   I think that a more contemplative world could compensate for the world of consumerism in which we are currently living.  I don’t find this world positive.  There’s a lack of calm.

What do you think work, school, and the family, can do to contribute to giving the new generation moral consciousness?

Families and schools can do many things.  Firstly, they must present young people with clear values, principles, and moral rules. This should be a theme, along with other things.  Secondly, the way to coexist within the family and in school in the best way possible, involves a translation of these moral values.  Many times, in school, they say it’s important to respect the other and to establish solidarity.  However, they simultaneously put a lot of emphasis on competitiveness and stimulate the “winners.”  Therefore, the message of school becomes very conflicted.  I feel that morals and ethics should be clearly expressed, and translated through respect, justice, solidarity, and dignity, thus making ethics something that simply makes sense. The material taught in school doesn’t make sense, it’s purely competitive, and doesn’t speak of morals.   Through this we are doing young people a disservice.

By Mauro Segura
I asked a group of teenagers to estimate how many friends they talk to everyday via the Internet, cell phone, or texting. Most of them replied “several dozens.”

Text messaging, Facebook messages, blog comments, tweets etc…Everything from a simple “hello” to a long conversation counts as talking. Their responses confirm what most of us already suspect: young people engage in a huge amount of social interaction through the web and through mobile devices like cell phones everyday.

All day I hear about how Gen Y has fragile human relationships. Their relationships more volatile than the relationships of youth in the past. Perhaps this is true, yet in front of me I see a much more interesting generation. A mature generation, actually preoccupied in cultivating relationships with my generation.

When I was 15 years old, I played soccer in the afternoon and studied the encyclopedia religiously. I believed everything my professor said. My relationships limited themselves to my classmates, neighborhood friends, and of course my family.

In contrast, young people today are able to travel out into the world virtually everyday. People from all places, social classes, and cultures meet intensely, 24 hours a day. Young people are more informed and attentive than we were at their age. They are conscious of the dilemmas of the planet, and are preoccupied in changing the world, and being agents of change.

A big challenge for Gen Y is time. So many possibilities and alternatives to create and build relationships in the short time-span of a 24-hour day, by a simple mathematical calculation, young people have many more opportunities to talk to people, and so it’s no surprise that the length of their relationships will be shorter and thus more volatile.

Yet have no illusions: young people continue to have the same characteristics of young people in the past. They have friends they confide in, they want to get closer to those they trust, and they want to be successful professionals in their careers.

However, Gen Y is not particularly preoccupied with their privacy, as they reveal parts of themselves on social networks, creating many virtual relationships rather than real ones.

Is this Gen Y’s fault or the fault of social networks? This is the current state of our country and of our democracy. Brazil is a democratic country, things are becoming more and more transparent. The media is also becoming increasingly outspoken. The Brazilian people have started to express themselves more freely. So this so-called “lack of privacy” does not just pertain to Generation Y. It’s part of the general transformation of society, as we all become “more open.”

There’s always something new popping up, giving fuel to those who argue that such or such thing will contribute to the worsening of society, be it the deterioration of family or human relationships. In the past, the same thing happened with radio and television. Now it’s happening with the Internet. Society is evolving, becoming more transparent, and this creates a higher level of social consciousness.

Everything in this blog post expresses the idea that Gen Y is much more interesting than past generations. Raised as citizens of the world, global citizens, and transformers of society.

In conclusion, if you are a reader belonging to Gen Y, have a look below at the hero of my generation. In the 1970’s, I was ten years old. I sat in front of my Television to dream…

Liliane Fonseca
Yesterday, I was watching a talk show in which the host said that in his day, laughing sounded like “qua, qua, qua.”

To that his guest responded that in his day, laughs sound (and look) like “LOL.”

I found this comment really pertinent, when it comes to thinking about how different generations express their emotions “Laughs” have undergone radical changes since the days of the “qua quaqua.” I am an avid user of programs like instant messenger. I talk to many people through e-mail. To me, certain letters piled together are simply laughter. For example, when I see “hehe” or “haha” I hear laughter. We are living in the time of the “LOL” (laugh out loud).

Digging deeper. Lovers used to swear their love to each other in secret. There were flowers and love letters. Love letters filled with poetry and metaphors. Ink stained pages of hand written words, rich with language to express the abstractness of love.

Today, people express their love through online emotions. There’s the smiley face and sad face, and every other “face” in between.

Let’s analyze the same situation, as it takes place in two different times.

The first scenario goes like this:
“At a party, a guy, looks at a girl, winks at her, making it clear that he wants to talk to her.”

The second scenario goes like this:
“The guy just finds the girl on MSN, sends her a message, and they start talking.”

In both scenarios, the guy gets the girl. But the manner in which emotions are expressed changes completely.

Today when young people have a problem (especially teenagers), you can be sure that they will express what’s happening through their blog, fotolog, IMstatus, or facebook status.

The internet, and its language is so present in young people’s lives that it’s become a free land in which they express their feelings and relate to each other.

In this online world, there is no reason to feel shy, or fear that people will discover your faults. You can just create an “ideal you,” and everyone believes that it’s in fact “you.” You can even create an “avatar” which literally illustrates the ideal you.

I believe that the creation of online emotions, which can basically express any feeling today, is an attempt at bringing people closer in the online world. It’s an attempt at making online communication less cold and distant. Yet, I wonder how efficient online emotions actually are.

My sister, who is 16, is a real believer in online emotions. I’m certain that if she could, she would use online emotions to speak, even in “face-to-face” interactions!

I was born right before the totalcomputer invasion. I got my first computer at the age of 8. I don’t have a lot of faith in the power of online emotions. Of course, I use the online world, and its “smiley” and “sad” faces. But I still believe in the real face-to-face. I like exchanging glances. I love spontaneity, and the freedom to speak your mind, without having time to think about what you are going to type next. I’m sure my sister would say that this is “old people” speak. Yet if we all communicated in the same way…what would be the fun of that?

Inês Schinazi

New York City. Underground morning rush, headphones glued to every pair of earlobes in sight. Stuck waiting for the next train. It’s like a silent film, except this time the live music plays in our heads. It can be whatever we want it to be. Personalized soundtrack. While we imagine the inner dialogue, the comic strip, popping, behind the other’s mute stare. Hard to get into it. Push comes to shove.

Finally inside the train, we all exist in our own space. Busy interacting with our own “machine,” ( MP3 players, blackberries, I Phones, digital newspapers,) so isolated while smashed up against what feels like ten million sweaty bodies. Paradox. Stuck together, and yet very much split apart.

How do we define “social interaction?” These days, the bulk of our “social interactions” take place through e-mails, texts, and social networking sites. We have many more virtual social interactions than face-to-face ones. Even when planning for the “face-to-face” we rely on the virtual (text, e-mail, facebook, and maybe the phone) probably spending much more time eyeing machines than each other.

Facebook asks “What’s on your mind?” Asking for a superficial x-ray or scan of our heads. Most of us give it to up. Eyeballing somebody’s profile, there’s no need for interaction when you can literally read somebody’s mind, or at least read what they want to share. No need to ask how people are. No desire to dig deeper. Time efficient. Too clean. A breed of thought lies there, almost too easy to catch, it’s static and raw.

Cyber space reminds me of jammed subway cars. We are all connected and stuck together through Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, etc. It’s literally possible to know exactly what people are doing, thinking, and feeling. Yet, despite all this apparent “connectedness,” individuals have probably never been so distant. After all, most social interaction means talking to machines.

In “Summer in the City,” Regina Spektor sings, “Summer in the city, I’m so lonely, lonely, lonely, so I went to a protest just to rub up against strangers….” No matter how much technology evolves and progresses, I don’t think the seemingly primitive need for “physical rubbing up” will ever disappear.

Velocity. Our world spins with great velocity. It keeps getting faster, and faster, and faster. Actually the word velocity doesn’t even begin to explain the rhythm of our lives. I can’t find the right world. I can’t find the word that depicts the frenetic accumulation of information, and the constant change, which surrounds us. I feel that we are living in a rhythm similar to the speed of light.

I received an article today, written by Lilly Fonseca, which truly pinpoints the situation in which we are living.

Through a research study, Nielsen found that the average time of a website visitor is 56 seconds. http://updateordie.com/updates/geral/2009/05/voce-tem-apenas-56-segundos.

The fragmentation of attention spans keeps increasing.

This video also gives us an idea of the exponential times in which we live, and its consequences. This isn’t a new film, but several old versions have been “revamped” over the past three years. This keeps the information, freshly up to date and full of impact. Several countries have given out their information, and this allows them to compare their own country’s reality, to the original video.

In this “Brave New World,” unimagined by Aldous Huxley, there are infinite possibilities.

This question constantly pops into my mind:

“How will we generate all this knowledge if we are constantly faced with the need to stay up to date?” If we spend 56 seconds on each website, how will we generate any knowledge?

We went through a phase knows as the “Era of Knowledge.” Perhaps we are entering the “Era of Information?” Although this film shows us that Generation Y uploads enormous quantities of information, I question if we can really consider this “information.”

Knowledge comes from information. But knowledge only happens if there is a capacity to compile the right information and if there is extensive reflection, thus creating new concepts and innovation.

Does Generation Y have the capacity to filter relevant information, separating it from everything else which floats in this vast sea of content, lingering between new mediums and formats? Do they have the capacity to turn this information into knowledge?

People tell me that this generation doesn’t have the same level of concentration as Baby Boomers. It’s true that young people’s attention spans are disperse. We know that young people watch television on their computer with the Internet in the background. We also know that gadgets play their music, and simultaneously beep with text messages and phone calls. Considering this, will Generation Y be able to dig through information in a deep and profound manner? Will they be able to find the right information and content while constantly being bombarded by the ideas, concepts, and advertisements, which follow them through their accelerated life, the life in which they already have various “avatars” (personas) to keep up with?

If we can’t generate knowledge, my vision tells me that the world will lose a lot. I could be wrong, perhaps this is the natural way of things. Perhaps it’s natural for only a few people to be able to fulfill the role of scientists, educators, legislators, creators, etc.

We’ve raised our kids, preparing them for these exponential times. They’ve acquired languages, and been through prestigious courses and schools, which pride themselves on their modern education.

Like true “helicopter parents” http://edition.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/personal/08/13/helicopter.parents/index.html, we wanted to make sure that our kids would have solid values, be well traveled citizens of the world, and be open to the new. I ask myself, in a society of information, will other skills be necessary to deal with the “new world?”

The article “What companies should know about Digital Natives“, by Dr. Urs Gasser, a scholar on Generations, from the Berkman Center at Harvard, claims that in about 20 years, Generation Y’s kids, will have spent 20,000 hours online. 20,000 hours is about the time a professional pianist spends to complete his musical studies. Dr. Gasser also confirms the idea that young people, read the “headlines,” but don’t end up dedicating themselves to the entirety of an article or text.

I’ve seen parents get called into schools, because their kids, in their schoolwork, “copy and paste,” information which should be reflected on, thought out, and linked to theoretical frameworks. The same theories that we, as kids, used to have to prove! Who remembers that? Today, it’s nonexistent.

Don’t even get me started on the Portuguese Language! This is the generation who abbreviates words, uses acronyms, and doesn’t care (as we, Bay Boomers cared), if they are simplifying a rich and beautiful language, with a poor vocabulary. Even the sound of words becomes banal and generic. Also, we haven’t yet begun to worry about how spelling will change and evolve, to fit within the “140 characters.”

Will the new generation, the 140 characters generation, start expressing themselves in “140 characters” just like on Twitter? Their sentences short and their thoughts fragmented? Isn’t generation Y a bit concerned?

How can we predict this future? How can we reverse it? How, and in what way? I don’t think that the Baby Boomers have completed their mission. I think that there needs to be reflection and discussion, between generations.

Together, different generations, can walk together, tackling these questions as a team, perhaps even changing the “music” that’s currently playing in our background.