Crackberries and iPhonohalics: A Generation Addicted to Smartphones
Nov 24th
Has your smartphone done this to you?
Good morning, mobile-me
It’s 9 a.m. and NYU journalism student Devin Chanda rolls over to grab his Blackberry after three hours of sleep. He’s writing a concert review for Clutch, a rap magazine, so he opens up the phone’s built-in memo pad and quickly taps out a review of last night’s—good music, flowing lyrics, free booze. Still on his phone, he attaches the pictures his photographer sent him at 6 a.m., sends an email to his editor, and goes back to sleep.
“Without my Blackberry, I would be completely lost,” he said. “Communication is the most important thing. I have to stay connected all the time.”
Chanda, whose phone never leaves his side, reflects the rising Smartphone culture among generation Y. With the Blackberry and the iPhone, this “anytime, anywhere” access has become a mantra by which gen Y lives. Not only does it ensure that every text and email goes through, but it also offers applications that lets users read the news on the go, log on to AIM in class, and calculate a tip at the end of dinner. This obsession with Smartphones has prompted criticism that begs the question: Is Gen Y too dependent on technology?
Bridging the Gap: Mash-Up Artists and Copyright Law
Nov 24th
In 2003, Danger Mouse, a.k.a. DJ Brian Burton, took music samples from the Beatles’ “White Album” and edited in Jay-Z’s vocals from his “Black Album,” creating the “Grey Album.” This record became one of the first mainstream mash-up albums, and Rolling Stone Magazine called it “the most talked about musical event of 2004.”
Mash-ups, the genre that the “Grey Album” is a part of, fall into a legal middle ground. Downloading, sampling, and distributing recording artists’ music violates copyright laws, which are still trying to catch up to this new technology. Sampling and remixing music isn’t a new phenomenon, but only recently became a complicated legal issue. The music industry is now suing its consumers, despite the fact that few current laws regulate this kind of music sharing.
(“What More Can I Say” by DJ Danger Mouse)
Facebook Fatigue: Is Gen Y Over It?
Oct 27th
Now that everyone (and their mother) is on Facebook, some of the site’s first users are beginning to step away
Facebook fatigue has hit college students.
NYU senior Shalin Patel, 21, plans to deactivate his account while he applies to medical school. Patel says that he uses Facebook a few times a week, but mostly to talk to acquaintances. “A lot of my close friends I call and text message, even e-mail,” he says. “I know I’m going to give it up eventually. I don’t even need it. I’m just on it to be on it.”
Since 2004, Generation Y college students have chatted, procrastinated and broken up on Facebook. So much that five years later, some students have lost interest in the site, deactivated their accounts, and moved on.
Beyond the “Novelty Effect”
The “novelty effect” of Facebook has worn off. “Whenever a new medium emerges, people get fascinated, but after a couple of years it drops off,” says JoEllen Fisherkeller, an NYU associate professor of culture and communication. “People realize the limitations of the medium.”
The Electronic Umbilical Cord: A New Way to Keep In Touch
Oct 27th
Constant text messaging keeps Gen Y and their parents connected
“Straight to boogie and tequila.”
Farrah Aldjufrie, a senior at the University of Southern California, received that text message last week from her father who lives in Bali.
“He speaks broken English because he’s Indonesian,” Aldjufrie says. “He was asking me about my birthday, and I told him I was going out with some friends. That was his response.”
Aldjufrie, like many in Generation Y, constantly contacts her parents through text messaging, about five times a day to her mom, and every other day to her dad.
“It’s the easiest way to keep in contact with my dad because he lives so far away. I can send him a text message, and if it’s really late on his time, he can write me back when he gets up,” she says.
Lights, Camera, YouTube: Changing Celebrity for the Web
Oct 27th
Since its advent in 2005, YouTube has bred a new kind of celebrity. But, can these online personalities compete with tried and true Hollywood stars?
| TOP 10 YOUTUBE VIDEOS:
1. Girlfriend by Avril Lavigne – over 125,428,485 views 2. Evolution of Dance – 126,311,388 views 3. Charlie Bit My Finger – 121,186,703 views 4. Don’t Stop the Music by Rihanna – 98,199,012 views 5. With You by Chris Brown – 97,863,761 views 6. Achmed the Dead Terrorist by Jeff Dunham – 95,082,506 views 7. Hahaha – 91,672,741 views 8. Bleeding Love by Leona Lewis – 89,575,443 views 9. No One by Alicia Keys – 83,413,733 views 10. Apologize by Timbaland ft. OneRepublic – 77,611,669 views |
In 1968, Walter Cronkite spoke out against the Vietnam War on CBS. “It seems now more certain than ever that the bloody experience of Vietnam is to end in a stalemate,” he told America. As a result of Cronkite’s address, American opinion of the war shifted overnight. Lyndon Johnson is rumored to have said, “I’ve lost Middle America.”
For millions of baby boomers and their parents Cronkite was considered an influential celebrity; someone who because of his years as a journalist could be trusted. As media continues to democratize, generation Y’s concept of celebrity continues to change. Today, with the advent of YouTube, becoming a celebrity is easier than ever. YouTube not only promotes existing celebrities, but it also breeds its own stars.
Although YouTube makes it easier to develop a fan base, no modern celebrity matches the authority had by Walter Cronkite. “Our concept of ‘celebrity’ has become so diluted,” said Adam Penenberg, a journalist and author whose book, “The Viral Loop,” examines companies that survive by going viral. “Today, there is no one celebrity that has this kind of power.”