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Email ThisI recently came across this great piece by Rosetta Thurman in which she compares the willingness to make mistakes among Baby Boomers and Generation Y. One line in particular stood out to me: “Young people are afraid to risk failure for the sake of the greater good.”
When thinking of social justice, I am often in awe of the number of peers who have taken on low paying internships or volunteer positions because they want to bring about change to those in need. I cant help but remember my friends in college who travelled abroad or who dedicated their research to understanding and eradicating inequality. College, as I have mentioned here, was the time for rolling up one’s sleeves and truly exploring the issues of today.
But the key aspect of these endeavors is that they were done with great preparation and little risk was involved. College provided a great cushion for exploration in that you could be certain any mistakes would not reverberate in a way that damaged your well being. Trips abroad were carefully examined, volunteer opportunties and internships had to be pre approved, and research, while eye-opening and exciting, was unfortunately limited to the walls of the ivory tower with the expectation that you will put this knowledge to practice when you get “a real job.”
At the same time, isnt this a sign of how far we have come–that enduring death threats and imminent danger is no longer a prerequisite for change? Additionally, I am weary of romanticizing the past. True, many people fought, but when I think of my grandmother and mother, I think of women who didnt rock the boat because they had families to feed. They werent marching or protesting or taking any kind of professional or personal risks because the consequences were simply much too big. This is not to say that they did not engage in resistance of their own kind; sending me off to one of the best colleges in the country while demanding that I give back to my family and my community embodies resistance, especially in a society that places the individual above all. However, when we look at the past–in particular the Civil Rights Movement which was so powerful and so monumental that it defined what protest is for generations to come–we get the impression that the world was marching. It simply wasnt.
Indeed, we arent radical and this attitude isnt confined to social justice. For all the hoopla about how my generation demands shorter hours, better perks, blah blah blah–I’ve yet to see that first hand. If anything, most of my peers are willing to work late in order to prove themselves and are habtual overacheivers. Rosetta highlights this approach as well: “I’ve always thought that if I prepared long enough, or studied as hard as I could, or got as many bullets on my resume as as possible, I would have “made it” and everything would work itself out.”
However, just because we arent radical, doesnt mean that we arent involved. Just as my mother and grandmother instilled critical thinking and personal strength in me through their appraoch to child rearing, our generation engages in issues in a way that is unique and powerful. Allison Fine wrote about this in “Momentum: Igniting Social Change in the Connected Age” arguing that the connection and interaction we are building through social media is great for bringing about social change because it is inexpensive and easily accessible. We use social media to connect and the trick is harnessing that passion to enrich the lives of others.
The lack of willingness to make mistakes in order to move forward is not confined to my generation–most people would rather live quiet comfortable lives instead of rocking the boat. We also may be noticing another startling trend: maybe we just dont care that much about being leaders or changing the world. Sure, we would like things to be better, but we arent crying about the glass ceiling especially as the issue of work-life balance becomes more and more prevalent. So perhaps the better approach is to assess how we engage with social justice and the impact our approach has on bringing about change. 
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Apologies if this is a little heated.
I don’t think I agree that our (read my) generation is changing the world via social media. Slacktivism, as it’s been nicknamed, to me seems like much more of a distraction than an actual vehicle for change. The reason? Those in power don’t care how many members a facebook group has. Unless you’re counting gotcha YouTube videos (which still require you to be out and on the scene), the powerful just don’t care about it the same way they would care about a strike or protest or press conference.
Not being willing to take risks in my view is a BIG problem. I mean, how else does one get big returns if one doesn’t take risks? And how is one supposed to prompt a system to change without taking on some risk for present stability? In my view, my generation has gotten a little to comfortable with looking out for me and looking on as things happen to others.
@ David: I dont think we are–yet. The downside of social media is that it is condusive to self-absorbed behavior, accountability is difficult, and it is easy to lose momentum since you arent always face to face with people you are working with. However, actually using social media to benefit others–in the way that Kiva has for example or the growth of online fundraisers–is a risk in and of itself which does not require being attacked by dogs and water hoses. At the same time, I think Gen Y’s approach to change is different in the sense that we are more interested in making change once we get inside of system as opposed to trying to overthrow it.
Hm… fair point.
A more evolved social media in the vein of Kiva might help. I would argue that the participation rates in such things are tiny compared to their facebook counterparts, but you do if a point there.