Capitolhillguy, midlifebear, and husky14620: Thanks very much for your replies to my post.
midlifebear, I am both envious of the life you've lived, and stunned by the magnitude of your loss. I am deeply humbled.
I hate to sound curmudgeonly, but Capitolhillguy wrote something that I find significant: I, too, have yet to find anyone under 35 who has anything significant to say...there's no question my generation was much more interesting than those worrying about java scripting and text messaging.
One of my colleagues mentioned someone we know had a birthday recently, and I said, "Is she 30 yet?" (I knew she wasn't.) My colleague replied, "No, she's only 26." I said, "I'm only interested in people over 30. People don't become interesting until after 30."
Although I perceived myself as a fairly intelligent, responsible adult while in my 20s, something changed after 30. I didn't really start developing a sense of aesthetics until 30.
As I said in my earlier post, I'm concerned about the generation that grew up with the Internet, cell phones, and Ipods. I'm not sure how to concisely articulate my concern. I suppose it's that today's media appeals to the lowest common denominator, and seems to be little more than a barrage of stimulation without meaningful content. Television news programs are among the worst offenders. Maybe I'm overgeneralizing, but it seems that today's young people "socialize" too much via MySpace and Facebook, collecting hundreds or even thousands of "friends" whom they never actually communicate with and with whom they have no meaningful relationship. People meet sexual/romantic partners on Internet dating sites or craigslist. Many of the jobs that are available these days involve using technology create package and repackage content that has no real use or value, creating gadgets to manipulate the content, and creating demand for the new media and it's dumbed down, recycled, mashed-up content. I'm not sure that those who grew up with this media have ever been able to get away from it long enough to immerse themselves in anything deeply enough to develop any real interests or passions--something to pursue, to
work at--something that excites, challenges, and motivates them to create something they can share with others, perhaps something that they can give back to the community, something that will inspire someone else. Is there any real sense of community anymore?
Is it any wonder that young people have nothing significant to say? I'm not sure they've ever been exposed to anything of significance, or that they would have noticed it if they had been. Meanwhile the rate of depression rises and many people stuggle in vain against an underlying sense of dissatisfaction, disappointment, and disillusionment.