John Creighton

February 15th, 2010 by John Creighton in Dispatches

Tags: Citizen Centric, Culture-Structure, Social Media

Patrick Allitt describes the United States as “America the Miserable” in a recent addition of The Spectator.  The mood of the country certainly seems stressed.  But, Mr. Allitt says that American gloom is more than just a temporary blip.

The source of immediate stress for many American families is neither hard to trace nor difficult to understand.  Nearly one in five American adults are either unemployed, underemployed or have given up looking for work as my colleague Brad Rourke reportedrecently.  Lack of jobs is a big deal that I feel palpably in my own community.  It’s hard to feel cheery about the world when you lack a revenue stream.

The state of America’s political process is no source of cheer, either.  Our political institutions appear incapable of responding to the challenges we face.  I am increasingly convinced that the only way to tackle tough challenges such as health care and education are through local action.  Our federal and state legislative bodies are too paralyzed by partisan politics.

I met recently with a high ranking state official here in Colorado to discuss education policy.  His calculus for action is dialed in on the politics of education reform (what actions are needed to win the political show?).  He is simply responding to the environment in which he works on a day-to-day basis.  The pressures he feels make it difficult to focus on actual content (what’s the best thing to do?).

Mr. Allitt asserts, however, that neither the recession nor the impotence of our political institutions is the real source of the malaise infecting America.  He argues that everyday Americans have lost their sense of optimism.  We Americans no longer believe that any challenge can be conquered or that the future will be better than the past.  In short, Mr. Allitt, a native of Great Britain, writes, American’s have lost “the infuriating but reassuring can-do spirit that once defined the United States.”

I beg to differ.

There is a profound shift taking shape in America, led by younger generations, in which Americans are reclaiming the do-it-yourself philosophy that is the foundation for a can-do society.

I have the opportunity to meet a number of young people in my role as a school board member.  Like all parents, I have the opportunity to witness the interests of my children and their friends take shape.  I sense in young people a desire to be craftsmen – to build and create and produce and do.  The tools to do-it-yourself are available and increasingly affordable.  Young people want to use them.

The do-it-yourself approach is most noticeable in the way this generation uses media compared to my generation.  But, do-it-yourself is extending in to every area of society.  Chris Anderson is the one of the best known writers on these topics, including his most recent contribution to Wired magazine.

Let’s compare how young people use media today compared to thirty years ago.  I came of age in the 1970s and 1980s.  My generation was passive media users.  We watched television sent to us by broadcasting companies and their local affiliates.  The extent of our engagement was limited to learning the theme song lyrics for The Beverly Hillbillies, Green Acres, Gilligan’s Island and, of course, The Brady Bunch.

(If you’re feeling nostalgic, check out the Classic TV Database.)

Young people today create their own productions.  YouTube is five years old this month.  The site serves up more than 12 billion views per day.  It’s a place to watch videos and a place to post your productions.  My kids and their friends produce movies on a regular basis using iMovie and a FlipVideo. They crowd around the computer to edit and watch their work.  Movies are being produced in households across the nation and globe.  Young people don’t just watch TV.  They make TV.

The same phenomenon is taking place in other areas of media, too.  We listened to albums.  We had to take or leave what the record labels produced.  Young people today make their own play lists and mix their own soundtracks.  A take-it-or-leave it selection of albums is a foreign concept.

A handful of young people read newspapers when we were kids – mostly the comics and sports section.  The rest of the paper was filled with news of little interest.  Today, young people create their own “feature sections” using social media tools ranging from text to Facebook to blogs.

We played video games located in arcades and pizza parlors.  Arcade video games were the most interactive media we had a generation ago.  Those who could master the joysticks were able to advance to new levels.  Today, young people create their own characters to participate in the games.

The Pew Internet Project suggests that people like me might overstate what young people are actually doing with media.  Perhaps that true.  But, the difference I notice in young people today is not their level of technical savvy but rather their expectations for how to engage in the world.

They are producers.  They expect to play a role in shaping their experiences.  The idea of being just a passive consumer is a fading concept that young people find frustrating at best.

I have a hypothesis.  Much public policy and many business models fall flat because they are designed for a passive consumer society.  Young people, in particular, have little interest in methods that require them to just sit.  Once businesses, service organizations and government start to better align with people’s desire to be active…  We’ll experience a renaissance of America’s can-do spirit.

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John Creighton can be found on Twitter @johncr8on and onFacebook.

Photo Credit:  Wesley Fryer (flickr)