Kids, the Internet & The End of Privacy Edit
Greatest Generation Gap Since Rock & Roll

This weekend New York Magazine featured an interesting profile of several youth in an attempt to illustrate the dramatic generation gap that the internet has created.  In particular, the article notes three dramatic shifts impacting the new internet enabled generation:
CHANGE 1: THEY THINK OF THEMSELVES AS HAVING AN AUDIENCE
CHANGE 2: THEY HAVE ARCHIVED THEIR ADOLESCENCE
CHANGE 3: THEIR SKIN IS THICKER THAN YOURS

The interviews are very insightful about the generational differences and about how publically ‘open’ adolescents have become.  For example, note the text in the following excerpt: “I tell Xiyin about Susie and her sex tape. She’s sympathetic with Susie’s emotional response, she says, but she’s most shocked by her decision to log off entirely. “My philosophy about putting things online is that I don’t have any secrets,” says Xiyin. “And whatever you do, you should be able to do it so that you’re not ashamed of it. And in that sense, I put myself out there online because I don’t care—I’m proud of what I do and I’m not ashamed of any aspect of that. And if someone forms a judgment about me, that’s their opinion.”