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/

Once upon a time there was a little girl named @littleredridinghood. Little red riding hood’s mother walked by her daughter’s bedroom and warned:

Honey, your grandmother is sick. Let’s go visit her?

So @littleredridinghood sadly glanced at the chaos of her flickering AIM, MSN, and twitter messages. She didn’t respond to her mother. She faced a major challenge: how to express the excruciating sorrow about not being able to make the awesome party with her gang of friends, because she had to visit her sick grandmother. How totally lame! How could she express all this in only 140 characters? She had to explain to all of cyberspace that she was suddenly disconnecting, like….#now!

Her 139 followers who were online at that moment, not to mention the 468 followers she had won over, got the following post: “whatdoyoumean grandmother sick on a Saturday?!! Plans for the club # fail. Kisses.

This didn’t mean that @littleredridinghood didn’t love her grandmother, or that it didn’t greatly affect her to know that her grandmother wasn’t well. It simply meant that @littleredridinghood preferred staying home tweeting until it was time for the party, where she would meet the hottest big bad wolf of the moment, than visiting her sick grandmother on a Saturday night. But for her mother just didn’t get this.

Where were the family values? Where was the consideration? Where was the ingenuity that she had when she was @littleredridinghood’s age? Where was the respect? She doesn’t even have time to visit her own grandmother? But she has time to spend hoursssssss talking to her friends on AIM and MSN messenger? Where was the real big bad wolf when you needed him? The questions that filled mother’s mind were infinite. Inevitable.

Clearly, there are generational conflicts. We try to understand the reactions of each generation based on the paradigm established by past generations, usually our own. The questioning which starts to appear in our brain is a fusion of our values and of our perception of the world. This is perfectly normal, of course. Those who don’t agree with the current reality, are actually reflecting a personal perception of facts, but not necessarily the objective facts. Right?

This generation asks for changes. Connected to the digital world, these young people are born under the reign of technology, transferring the virtual environment where they live, letting this spill out onto everyone and everything. Their interpersonal relations reflect their desire for immediacy, online and offline. They hope for a world that’s only their own, connected, open to dialogue, speedy, global, and with a completely different understanding of hierarchy and leadership.

Cell phones, Facebook, Orkut, MSN, and Twitter give young people the ability to constantly dialogue. They value communication. They are not very tolerant of criticism or being contradicted, and generally they develop personalities which can be quite egocentric. They demand direct access to their superiors (in the workplace) and the expect explanations when they ask for them.

These young people live a fragmented rhythm, due to the variety of their activities and their simultaneous execution of them. They listen to music, surf the net, and watch movies, all at once. Isn’t it logical to think that with the current intense stimulus of their world, their values and reactions will be different from those of their parents and elders?

For my generation, for example, the question, “Let’s go visit your grandmother?” doesn’t exist. It would be a concrete affirmation, “Let’s go visit your grandmother.” Period. Did this bother or upset me? Not at all! However, this doesn’t necessarily mean that I loved my grandmother more than @littleredridinghood. It simply reflects two different reactions to the same situation. Inputs and outputs of different worlds and different times. Affection and love for a grandmother don’t necessarily have anything to do with it.

Family members, coworkers, educators, and business executives, who are currently absorbing this new generation in their institutions, can opt to create new ways to motivate and develop healthy inter-personal relationships, creativity, and dialogue. Or they can continue investing in the conservative attitudes that will continue to fuel generational conflicts.

By saying this, I certainly don’t mean to encourage permissiveness. Generation Y has a lot to learn from the wealth of experience of their elders. This is incredibly obvious. But I also believe that Gen Y can teach the Baby Boomers and Gen X, a lot as well.

And so, I dedicate this post to all the grandparents in the world. As a Gen Y friend says, “Press F5 and update that!” So I’d like to extend that to all the business executives and educators. A great F5 for all! Refresh! #Go!

In the last weeks a phenomenon has swept over social networks in Brazil. Nothing unexpected, especially because as social-network-addicts know, it’s impossible to predict what crazily cool thing they’ll come up with next.

Allowing Orkut contacts (currently the most popular social network in Brazil) to be transferred to Facebook, is a monumental step. Perhaps the creator of this application didn’t realize what kind of enormous reprecussions his creation would have.

Brazil has the most Orkut users in the world. Other social networks like Twitter and Facebook are slowly growing in Brazil. People have gotten used to the Brazilian style of Orkut. It has truly become a second home to them.

Generation Y discovered these tools, allowing them to connect with friends, that they might have never seen again or kept in touch with, without social networks. More than just a distraction, social networks are becoming a social habit. Society has grown accustomed to, and become relatively dependent on this medium of communication.

Perhaps this is why Gen Y has been a bit resistant towards Facebook. They were happy in their Orkut world. Orkut and its applications are extremely familiar to them, and easy to use.

Also, the new innovations popping up on Orkut were never hard to get a grip on, as they were always user friendly. While other countries dominated Facebook from A to Z, Brazilians still asked “Why Change?” Especially because most of their friends didn’t know the site. Moving everybody to Facebook would be a lot of work.

Yet little by little, young Brazilians, especially those belonging to Generation Y, became the motor propelling social networks. They were invited and encouraged to get to know “Facebook.”

One thing that Brazilians really seem to love is the idea originally taken from Twitter where Facebook users share “what are you doing?” The idea of telling others in real-time what you are thinking is really interesting. Also, a lot of games available exclusively on Facebook allow friends to play and compete together. This also goes along with the idea of sharing in real-time.

And so the Facebook fever rose. Now with the ability to import Orkut contacts onto Facebook, people will feel more and more at “home” on Facebook. Brazilian participation has risen significantly, for the simple fact that this tool greatly facilitates conversion, and wasn’t available before. There’s no doubt that with a large Brazilian presence on Facebook, the social network will continue to grow exponentially.

And what does all this have to do with Gen Y and Brazil? A lot! It allows us to understand what moves youth today. They are moved by familiarity. They are drawn to that which is not threatening, and doesn’t go out of their comfort zone too much. Of course, Gen Y in Brazil does want to “shake and move,” exploring new experiences, but only to a certain point.

Brazilians, especially in comparison to Europeans and Americans still romanticize this idea of “home sweet home.” Although Gen Y is constantly characterized by their speed, velocity, and instantaneous nature, they are still loyal to their origins.

In this case, the origin is Orkut, and Brazilians may take a while to realize that they can come and go as they please when it comes to social networks. Facebook was a beginning, but clearly there will be many more beginnings and middles, captivating the attention of Gen Y in Brazil. Whether we like it or not this generation is the beginning of everything.

By Manuela Mesquita

I’ve always thought of my mother as a baby boomer, but a baby boomer who doesn’t fit the stereotype. My mother introduced me to e-mail, even though I’m part of generation Y. My mother got on MSN chat before I did. She knows way more about computers than I do. I always relied on her knowledge whenever I had any doubts! She downloads music onto her cell phone. She’s always updating her computer with the latest software, and yes she’s on Orkut! (Brazil’s leading social network.)

She’s very present in my life. She tells me to update my pictures. She leaves comments and messages for me in cyber space. She doesn’t have a blog (yet), but I won’t be surprised the day she creates one.

Yet in the past few days, I’ve gotten concrete proof that some things go beyond the cyber world. Culture and the way people have been raised, ends up creating a gap between baby boomers and Gen Y.

A friend of mind has just lost someone very dear to her. The wake will take place in another city. I couldn’t be with her at that moment. I didn’t know how to act.

The first person I thought of in this situation was my mother. I didn’t think twice, I called for help. Immediately she told me,

- “In these moments, only a telegram will do.”

- What? Tele what?

You know, that thing people used back in World War II. In a few words they had to send a very succinct and expensive message. That’s what my mother was talking about!

I didn’t burst out laughing simply because I was going through such an emotional moment. She continued explaining that sending my condolences through the Internet would be extremely indelicate.

I decided to send flowers, along with a card, to the site of the wake.

But I still wasn’t satisfied. How could I be certain that the right person had gotten the flowers? Would my friend know just how much I wanted to express my solidarity? How long would the flowers take to get there? I logged into Orkut, and found that people had left several messages. Now, I’m against this. I find it really morbid. But I couldn’t resist the urge to speak to my friend. So I sent an e-mail, expressing my feelings, and asking if she had gotten the flowers. In less than 5 minutes I got a “thank you” e-mail, sent via Blackberry. I finally felt at peace. At least my message had been delivered.

As far as my mother’s surprising advice goes, it reveals just how much communication has changed. Yes, an e-mail is impersonal. It’s impersonal, and it’s not the most well-mannered way to go about expressing my condolences. But this isn’t important. What is important is that my friend got the message, and that my message seemed to help her.

What I take from this whole situation is that for us, Generation Y, it’s important for information to flow, and to arrive at the right time. We haven’t stopped using our common sense or etiquette. But in this case, the message I was sending would have had no value even a day later. Timing was extremely delicate.

How would I have known that she had gotten the telegram? And if I had sent a letter, it could have gotten lost. Why risk it when we have all this technology?

To generation Y, it would have been rude not to communicate right away, especially since there are so many different ways to get in touch! I do understand my mother’s perspective, and she’s incredibly modern for her generation. Still, culture is culture. Even the Internet or social networks can’t bridge this gap, at least not as quickly as we’d like.

By Flávia Vianna

It’s incredible how a tool used to send messages through 140 characters can be used to update us, convey emotion, encourage thinking, reflection, and laughter, or “all of the above.”

A few weeks ago, I got a post through Twitter talking about a mom who went into an electronics store and asked the salesperson if he carried Twitter. She said she needed to buy Twitter for her son.

After this I went on a trip. Streaming velocity, downloading images and insights in my mind. I was thinking about Generation X and Generation Y.

It’s funny. No mother on earth is required (or even stimulated) to know about online social networks. But this mother was trying to understand this new generation. As my trip ended, I thought to myself: “what many big businesses need to do, hasn’t actually begun yet.”

When businesses are disconnected from technology, it’s sad. If this attitude comes from a big business, it’s completely unacceptable and embarrassing.

This week I got some comments, in regards to my last post. The comments were mostly from individuals belonging to Gen Y who work in businesses that are very set in their traditional ways, and haven’t realized that there’s a digital conversion to be made. Reading some of the comments, I couldn’t believe that there are still businesses that block access to social networks, on the grounds of “productivity.”

Employees born from the 1980’s onwards are at the epicenter of businesses and will be for years and years to come. Businesses that aren’t in tune today are going to become junk like in Wall-E, if they don’t adapt fast.

If you want to hire and tap into the competencies of these Gen Y creatures, please update your corporate world. Old concepts must be re-examined. There’s no point in listening to Pity on your iPod, if the machine that plays music at the office is still a record player with an LP by Trio Irakitan. Proof that this generation is hungry for information, is that I’m sure that at this exact moment, the gen y readers have already opened Youtube and are searching for “Trio Irakitan.

I’m not saying that Gen X readers aren’t interested in knowing more or researching things. It’s the way in which they research and function that’s different, and that sometimes causes conflict.

My interpretation is that the multi-functionality of Gen Y is what creates corporate conflict. And yet this conflict is a pure waste. A waste of time, a waste of energy, and a waste of money. Managers, leaders, and bosses, should try and take advantage of these Gen Y characteristics to minimize conflict and guarantee sustainability in their businesses.

I’d also like to reference the blog post “What’s Age Got to do With it” by Silvana Avinami. It’s an excellent post and very well written. It shows that respect comes with admiration and not with your birth date. We need to respect our differences and compile our distinct visions of complimentary worlds.

What is necessary to build mature work relationships isn’t age. It’s behavior, ethics, professionalism, and most importantly open heads and open hearts. And if you don’t know what that is…Google it.

Flavia Vianna is from Rio, works in advertising as a co-owner of the agency Trafor Comunicação. About 2/3 of her day is spent trying to understand human behavior. During the rest of the time she sleeps. Or tries to sleep. Recently initiated in the 2.0 world, she’s discovered that she’s embarked on a path of no return. She’s Gen X, but she was born at the wrong time. She’s actually SO Gen Y. Her philosophy in life: it’s an eternal process of re-learning.

By Flavia Vianna*

New illustration created by my intern. I signal over to him with my hand. Removing the phone, which is usually glued to my ear, making extra effort for a “personal approach,” and “personal interaction” with him.

He goes, “Ah….(popping chewing gum sounds)…check it out to see if this is cool.”

So, I walk over to his screen to “check it out.” Immediately distracted by the blinking AIM conversation and the 16 windows open at the same time (Yes, I counted). You can tell Gen X and Gen Y apart, just from the number of windows they have open at the same time. Two minutes ago, I had minimized my MSN because 4 windows is too stressful for me to handle. Not to mention blinking…

“Yeah…so is it cool or not?”

His voice brings me back to reality. The illustration. Yes of course. Here’s another characteristic of this generation. They see the world through digital windows, and believe the entire universe actually works like this. Try explaining that those of us over 30, look at MSN chats first, and then look at all that blinking, and only then are finally able to “check out” what we were supposed to be doing in the first place.

“The illustration looks great.” “Just add some color…” I’m interrupted. He answers his cell phone. I didn’t even hear the ring. Puzzled by this, I wondered, is there a ring tone that only those under 25 can hear?

And the other Gen Y employee sitting in front of him starts to laugh. Hauihaiuaihaiu. Yes, because “haha” “hehe” or “lol” is SO Gen X. My favorite illustrator finally hangs up, and explains the mysterious ring to me. I was right. The sound is so low, that as we grow old, we simply don’t hear the ring anymore. Perfect for class he explains, his professors never catch on. Oh yes, technology can be so cruel.

OK. So I know my hearing isn’t what it used to be. But I’d like to make clear that my soul is totally Gen Y. I’m completely enchanted by all post-1980 inventions. The other day, I caught myself at home, with my TV on, MSN chats open, two other windows open, SKYPE, texting through my cell, and to make it a total geek scenario, I was also tweeting. When my phone rang, I almost started crying. Emotional. This gen y thing was growing on me.

The truth is, I learn so much in my daily “laboratory” coexisting with these Gen Y creatures. They are really special, and they bring their worlds of everything.at.the.same.time.right.now. It’s as if they’ve come to me equipped with a chip that understands everything going on around me. It’s even better than Neo’s chip from the Matrix.

On top of all this, lies their extreme capacity for professionalism, ethics, compromise, and creativity. And of course my desire to know more and more about them just keeps growing.

Flavia Vianna is from Rio, works in advertising as a co-owner of the agency Trafor Comunicação. About 2/3 of her day is spent trying to understand human behavior. During the rest of the time she sleeps. Or tries to sleep. Recently initiated in the 2.0 world, she’s discovered that she’s embarked on a path of no return. She’s Gen X, but she was born at the wrong time. She’s actually SO Gen Y. Her philosophy in life: it’s an eternal process of re-learning.

“This is Cory. He’s our social media guy,” says Manager to the new hires. “He gets paid to play on Facebook all day.” I just roll my eyes and tell the new hires to ignore him. I’m happy because I finally got the IT Manager to undo the block on social media sites that he had instituted company wide. I turn back to my work, where I’ve got 10 different tabs open on Firefox. I do indeed have Facebook up; I also have Twitter, LinkedIn, Gmail, the company blog, as well as several other sites that I’m using for research.

Throughout the day a friend sends me, via Google Chat, a hot lead on a new company that could use our services. Another sends me a DM on Twitter to let me know that Jeremiah Owyang is going to be in town tonight. Owyang just left Forrester research, where he was the youngest analyst they’ve had, after only two years into his career there. His following is legion and he’s leaving to become a partner in a new firm. I can’t wait to go meet him. His meetups are full of useful information on social media, marketing, and best practices for business.

While I’m checking my Twitter account I laugh at some jokes, reply to a couple of random questions, and build relationships with some of the most influential marketers in my industry.

A little later I walk over to refill my water bottle. People are standing around talking in the kitchen. Some of the older generation have been standing around for 15 minutes. It’s nice to stand and take a break after a while. It’s also nice to laugh with coworkers and build relationships with them.

At the end of the day, I’ve built dozens of new links to our company’s website, got us two major positive media mentions, resolved two customer issues, and found three solid sales leads for our sales team. I’m feeling pretty productive.

On my way home I check email via phone and answer a couple of work related emails. I’m really curious about some of what I see, so I log into our analytics tracker to see how our site is performing. Later that night I get a brilliant idea for a new marketing tactic so I log into the corporate WordPress admin page and write up a quick draft post. All told, I’ve probably spent about 90 minutes on work related stuff when I’m not at work. I probably spent about the same amount of time on non-work related stuff while I was at work.

I’ve got this relationship with my job that I just love. I get to do things that I find really interesting and integrate many different skills. At the same time, I can’t turn my brain off when I’m not at work. I’m a pretty right brained person, so ideas strike me at odd moments. I have to act on them when I get them or they go away, so I work when the Muse strikes.

I also like having the freedom to integrate every aspect of my life into my job. I don’t really keep my work life separate from my private life – at least, not the way that my parents’ generation seemed to do. My friends send me great work ideas one minute and a hilarious internet video the next. I do the same for them. We feel productive and we get results – but not the way that some of our bosses would approve.

Every generation has its disagreements with the generation that comes both before and after it. We don’t want to repeat the mistakes of our parents’ generation, and we want to make sure the next generation doesn’t repeat ours.

I totally understand that. I’ve seen too many people in the generation before work themselves into the ground. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. At the same time, I recognize that those of a younger set have to spend some time paying their dues if they want to attain positions of influence and substantial income while working for others. Perhaps that’s why so many people from my generation are starting their own businesses and thriving. It seems like every person I know in my age bracket has their own side business.

As the rising Gen Y integrates more into the upper echelons of the work force, our method of always-on communication will integrate as well. When your communication channels are always on, it’s nearly impossible to completely separate the personal from professional – in fact, the personal often becomes the professional. People that we have built strong ties with will communicate with us and send us funny videos, and in the same five minute time span, send us the contact information for a hard to get client that can end up being a game changer for your organization. It’s just the way we operate.

Then again, perhaps I shouldn’t speak for my whole generation.

Cory Huff is a social media specialist for a search engine marketing firm in Portland, Oregon. He also runs TheAbundantArtist.com, where he teaches artists of all stripes how to sell art online

By Ines Schinazi

Technology is obviously changing the way we speak, communicate, interact, and relate to each other. But is technology also changing our brains? Dr. Gary Small thinks so. Of course, the brain’s extreme plasticity is nothing new. But the overwhelming flood of technology in nearly ever aspect of our lives is.

Technology has greatly contributed to making Dr. Gary Small’s research possible. In many ways, technology has sparked his thinking.

He explains, “It was really in my personal life, noticing these technologies, that I felt I wanted to understand it more… I was struck how they’re have been so few direct studies of brain function while our brains are using these new technologies.”

Of course, without technology, Dr. Small’s elaborate research wouldn’t be possible at all.

While technology propels us forward, permitting someone like Dr. Small to explore these questions, it also paradoxically holds us back.

Through his research Dr. Small also reveals the widening “brain gap” occurring between “digital natives” and “digital immigrants,” thus affecting the family, the workplace, and society at large.

Dr. Small is a world- renowned expert on memory, aging, and the brain. He is currently the director of the UCLA “Memory & Aging Research Center at the Semel Insitute for Neuroscience & Human Behavior.” His latest book is the cleverly titled “iBrain.”

His extremely innovative research has made the headlines of “The New York Times,” “The Wall Street Journal,” and “USA today” among other publications. “Scientific American” magazine has named him one of the world’s top innovators in Science and Technology.

His recent UCLA study titled “Your Brain on Google” makes us wonder if our own brains are under the Google influence. In an exclusive interview, Dr. Small shares some of his thoughts.

Ines: Could you talk about the “Your Brain on Google” study you did at UCLA?
Dr. Small: We wanted to see what the brain looked like the first time it searched online. To do that, we had to find [older] people that were “naïve” to the Internet. That was probably the hardest part of the study. So we found these people, and matched them up with people who had Internet-search experience.

We put them in a functional MRI scanner, where we can measure brain function from moment to moment.

We simulated Internet searching and reading a book in the scanner. We found that when the Internet savvy people searched online there was a greater than two-fold increase in activation throughout the brain. We thought that that had to do with the neural networks knowing how to search online and showing greater activation.

We also have found, and are presenting this next month, that if you take these “Internet Naïve” people and have them search online for just an hour a day during a week or two, that their brains look identical to somebody who has been searching online for years. It tells us that an older brain really can adapt quite quickly.

Ines: You are considered one of the world’s top experts on memory, aging, and the brain. Specifically, how did you start exploring the connection between digital technology and the brain? What sparked the interest?
Dr. Small: My work has been primarily in Alzheimer’s disease, in memory, and in how the brain ages. I’ve spent much of career developing technology on how to measure the brain, like PET scan techniques, and so forth.

And it struck me in the past few years that all the technology that we are developing, which improves our lives, may also have an effect on the brain. It was really in my personal life, noticing these technologies, that I felt that I wanted to understand it more.

That’s why I wrote the book “iBrain.” During the course of writing “iBrain,” we did this study at UCLA called “Your Brain on Google.” Because I was struck how they’re have been so few direct studies of brain function while our brains are using these new technologies.

Ines: Your research reveals the wide disparity between digital natives and digital immigrants, which you call the “Brain Gap.” How do you perceive this brain gap affecting the family?
Dr. Small: I think it definitely affects the family. I can see that in my own family. The younger people, the young teenagers, are using technology more, they’re better at, but they’re not spending time face-to-face with human contact.

We have a rule at our house that there’s no technology during dinnertime. Yet it’s a strange situation. The other day, I said to my son, “Stop playing that video game, and come watch television with me!”

It speaks to my concern about the repeated use of technology, and not socializing. It’s a moving target. It’s a complex topic, and I don’t have all the answers. In writing “iBrain” I was hoping to generate some discussion, raise some questions, and get people to study it more…

Ines: How does the brain gap affect the workplace, as digital natives and digital immigrants must now collaborate to accomplish the same tasks?
Dr. Small: In the workplace, when people have to adapt, they do. An example is my father, who was already in his 80’s, and was still working. He wouldn’t use a computer at all. But when they changed to an electronic filing system at the office, he was forced to use a computer, and he adapted quite readily.

I think some older people will have advantages because of the “face-to-face contact” [skills]. Yet younger people will have advantages because of the technology skills in the workplace. The people, who excel the most, are those who can master both approaches.

Ines: What are the steps we can take to minimize the “brain gap” in the workplace and in the family?
Dr. Small: I think they need to first become aware of the issues, and have discussions. I think the way to bridge the gap, is to upgrade the tech skills of the older generation, and help young people, with their human contact face-to-face skills.

Ines: There’s always a great deal of discussion about the “left” and “right” sides of the brain, which determine people’s natural aptitudes.

Do you think technology-use, is comparable to other skills like Art, Math, and Literature? Do some people have more of a natural aptitude or talent? Or are people’s technological skills directly proportionate to their technology-exposure?
Dr. Small: That’s a complex question. We haven’t studied it directly. My sense is that this is something that some of us are better at innately. But it’s also something that can be learned. So it’s not just one or the other. The brain is quite plastic, and does respond well to these kinds of exposure. We found in our study “Your Brain on Google” that an older brain really adapts quite quickly.

Ines: You find that digital natives often lack basic “people skills,” such as reading facial expressions, or feeling empathy. In the future, are digital natives at risk of losing their “people skills” all together?
Dr. Small: Yes. That is an issue. People see it anecdotally all the time. Young people are not showing eye contact when they’re having a conversation. They really can’t read non-verbal cues when they are having a conversation. So I think this is a risk, and that’s one reason I try to heighten people’s attention to it.

Ines: We live in the world of the iPod, the iPhone, the iMac, and now the “iBrain.” How did you come up with the creative title for your latest book?
Dr. Small: I have to credit our editor, Mary-Ellen O’Neill. It was a very good idea. It’s a terrific title. The book is about the brain, and the effect of new technology on the brain.

So, you were just doing a play on words with “iBrain, iPhone, etc.” [In regards to the meaning of the “I”] you could say it stands for “intelligent” or “interactive.” It’s interesting because in the study “Your Brain on Google” we found the frontal lobe was particularly activated, and that’s the interactive part of the brain. So searching online is quite interactive. You’re making lots of decisions. You’re going back and forth. It really engages neural circuits in the frontal lobe of the brain.

Ines: Your research insists on the positive aspects of internet-use. You find that the Internet helps develop important skills like multi-tasking, complex reasoning, and decision making, in both the young and the aging. That said the effects are only positive if people use technology responsibly, not giving into its addictive nature.

We know that Internet addiction is a growing problem all over the world, as there have recently been a lot of rehab centers opening up to treat this problem. Are the brains of addicts wired differently?
Dr. Small: We do know that some people have a predisposition for addiction. So they’re brain wiring may be a bit different, and there may be some genetic determining of that.

But I think all of us have the capacity to become addicted to things. It depends on the amount of exposure, the situation, and a lot of different factors. I think that just like with any condition, there’s a combination of genetic and environmental factors.

You find that people that get addicted to technology are often the same people that have a tendency to get addicted to alcohol, drugs, and food. It’s the same dopamine reward system. The primitive systems of the brain drive these addictions. We talk about this to some extent in “I Brain.”

Ines: What are your suggestions for avoiding the addiction problem as a society?
Dr. Small: I think there’s a lot of controversy about it. Not so much in Asia, and in some other countries. But in the U.S. the American Psychiatric Association hasn’t decided yet that there is such a thing. I think there is, and I think we should take it seriously and try to help people.

Ines: What are your thoughts on popular social networks like Facebook and Twitter? Are they good for the brain?
Dr. Small: I think like anything they can be good. But when overdone they can be negative. I’ve talked to a lot of schools, and a lot of kids, who are spending a lot of time on Facebook.

A negative is that they’re losing their face-to-face communication skills. But they’re getting good at their “Facebook-to-Facebook” skills.

You know, it’s marvelous how we can network with this. But I think that we need to use it in moderation, and not overdue it. I always recommend a balance, that you spend time offline, to balance the online time.

Ines: And these social network sites seem particularly addictive…
Dr. Small: Yeah, anyone who has been involved with [social networking sites], really sees the draw. For me, it’s not Facebook, but I have so much business on e-mail that it’s hard for me to get off my e-mail. It’s helpful. But too much of a good thing can be a bad thing. I think you have to have a balance and know when to use the electronic communication and when to use the old-style communication.

Ines: Much of your research works towards helping the old stay as young as possible. Your research is an effort towards reconciling good health with old age.

However, do you think that some of the enormous attraction to this type of research comes from our society’s general fear of aging?
Dr. Small: Yes. We want to stay young. We want to stay healthy. There’s certainly an emphasis on youth.

What we’re learning from science is that we have more control than we think. Genetics only accounts for part of what determines how well and how long we live. So we’re trying to help people understand that, and figure out when they can do today to live better and longer.

Ines: We know that with the excessive use of technology, individuals are developing more “virtual ties” and “virtual relationships” than “real life” ones.

Is the trend of virtual relationships also a product of the changing brain? Or does it say more about our society and socialization in general?
Dr. Small: I think it speaks to how enticing all these things are. I love technology. It’s really tremendous. I think that it’s something that can really enhance our lives, and it does.

But I think it’s “sneaked up” on us so quickly, we haven’t thought about the positives and the negatives. That’s what “iBrain” is about. To try and put it in balance, and think about it intelligently, to enhance our lives, to control the technology, to make things better rather than the other way around.

Ines: A study affirms that women are inherently better at multi-tasking because ever since ancient times, while their husbands were out hunting, they sustained the family, by multitasking. This same historical context also caused men to be better at focusing on a single task at a time.

In your opinion, how will the digital age, with its constant multi-tasking, impact future generations and their gender roles?
Dr. Small: I think there’s a kind of “narrowing” of the gender divide as a result of this.

Interestingly men seem to get into the technology earlier, but now there’s not so much of a divide.

But there are some differences in terms of “use patterns,” going back to evolutionary development, defining the roles of men and women, where men were the hunters, and women the nurturers.

That’s interesting, the thought of multi-tasking, and women being better at it. I think there’s some truth to that. I find I can focus on a single task, whereas my wife has a little bit harder time doing that, and will notice other things going on.

I think all bets are off with the technology today. We’re seeing fewer differences between men and women.

As I was growing up, the act of flirtation took place “live.” For the most part, this is not something Generation Y can really relate to. We got to see magic lighting up the other’s glance, the sparkling eyes, and the instant “click” that seemed to produce such intense passions. Live, we witnessed shaky, sweaty, palms, and we knew that romantic conquest was near.

Today, the language of seduction and romantic conquests has changed. Everything happens through Texts, Twitter, and Facebook. These new ways of expressing emotion leave body language behind, as it rests on a secondary plane. Today, it’s rare for people to even have the opportunity to express themselves in face-to-face interactions.

The Anthropologist Edward Hall was the first to speak of the “Silent Language.” Hall refers to body language as facial expressions, and writes about how the body speaks, using its hands, posture, and a series of codes that convey what words often cannot.

In Brazilian culture especially, we joke that we can’t speak without our hands. We speak through a sort of dance, walking, singing, gesturing, glancing, and smiling. We let our bodies do much of the talking. As we say one thing, we know that our bodies often express something else, as body and speech don’t always match.

With this new culture, in which young people swap texts all day, talking through MSN, Facebook, and Twitter, I wonder what communication will be like in the future? What will happen as our language becomes more and more textual, losing its colorful images? This question was addressed in a really interesting article in “The Wall Street Journal”

Body language is something we do unconsciously. I wonder, how will emotion be expressed solely through text? Leaders for example, rely greatly on emotion, and charisma, to engage their team. Dr. Laurent Lapierre, a Canadian Professor, lectured about the way in which an orchestra conductor knows he’s ready, once he can direct without his hands, relying on the emotions conveyed through his facial expressions.

How will Generation Y express their emotions in texts often limited by 140 characters? How will they express their energy, creativity, sense of urgency, anxiety, and happiness? How is it possible to transmit all this without physical presence?

I also wonder about how leadership from afar works. How will all these new ways of communicating affect the corporate world?

By Ines Schinazi

Like little peeping toms, peering through television screens, mesmerized by the dancing photography burning from somewhere within the screen. The reality show hits the human mind, like a burglar with a baseball bat, knocking us unconscious. Leaving us ignited with an almost-foreign animalistic desire. We cry out for more and more… Feeding the voyeur within us, teasing the one looking upon us.

Of course, the name “reality show” presents an abundant paradox. Few things are more distant from reality than Paris Hilton choosing a BFF on national television, Lauren Conrad’s life on “The Hills,” the birthday parties on “My Super Sweet 16,” and most recently the show “NYC Prep” (an attempt at creating a real-life “Gossip Girl.)

Shows like “The Apprentice” and “America’s Next Top Model” bring the sometimes more realistic aspect of competition, insisting on the component of unknowns desperately fighting for their dreams. Yet the audience is still watching a TV show, which often packages entire days into a heavily edited hour.

Yet, the demand for these reality shows obviously continues to grow as they flood televisions all over the globe, replacing many traditional sitcoms with a taste of “real life.” Even MTV doesn’t play music anymore. Rather, they play reality shows, and the music sometimes gets sandwiched in.

Why does modern society crave and enjoy reality shows so much? The reality show has existed since the 1940s. Allen Funt’s “Candid Camera” was possibly the first. However, reality shows only began experiencing global success in the year 2000. Since then, they’ve been multiplying exponentially, clearly marking an inflection point, as society looks to the television less for escapism and distraction, and more as a sort of distorted mirror.

The reality show’s explosive success also coincided with the boom in digital and online communication. Interestingly, online social networking sites also experienced a boom the 2000s. Myspace was founded in 2003, Facebook in 2004, and Twitter in 2006.

Reality shows and online social networks share the same voyeuristic aspect. Both allow individuals to observe others in passive anonymity. Both types of media suggest “real life,” but end up serving up an idealized version of it. An edited scene of a reality show seems comparable to a carefully constructed online profile. In both cases, what you see is often not what you get. The illusion of reality reigns.

Does the reality show increase our attraction to online social networking? Or does online social networking draw us to the reality show? Or do both types of media feed off each other, reflecting the type of society we’ve become?

The 2009 Facebook statistics reveal that, “More than 120 million users log on to Facebook at least once each day, More than 5 billion minutes are spent on Facebook each day (worldwide), and more than 30 million users update their statuses at least once each day.”

As social networking becomes more and more “social,” inevitably replacing some face-to-face interaction, does the appeal of the reality show increase? Is the reality show, an attempt at watching “real life” if you can’t get enough of a real one yourself?