How the Bridge Generation Can Help Old Gods and New Gods Play Nice
My generation - the “Xennial Generation,” born between 1977 and 1983 - has the unique experience of growing up as children in the final years of the analog age, and growing into adults during the burgeoning of the digital age. As children, we enjoyed the magic of making friends in person, riding bikes with neighborhood kids, and play dates involving imagination and interaction. We also dealt with the frustration of landlines, pagers, and having to make our own mix tapes. Did we know that it was frustrating at the time, though? Probably not. However, I sit here writing this on my sleek laptop with 5 internet tabs open while listening to a carefully curated playlist on my smart phone which is being played on a bluetooth speaker across the room as my daughter sends me a text from her bedroom. Technology has certainly come a long way just in my lifetime. Children and teenagers these days have grown up solely in the digital age. They make friends on Instagram and get to know each other through carefully filtered and edited photos. Sometimes they meet in person but mostly they socialize through Snapchat, posting updates to everyone at once through their ‘story’ and making sure to keep their ‘streaks’ going with people, even if it’s just a quick ‘snap’ with no substance.
No substance. That may be part of the problem the modern world is facing. Or is it a symptom? We are so dependent on media and technology that it is affecting our brains, our attention spans, and our ability to interact with each other. Meaningful conversation, productive dialogue, critical thinking, and civil engagement are becoming things of the past. Conversations have been reduced to 280 characters or less, statements are backed up with memes, and we argue with others by typing with a new level of fierceness that hiding behind a screen allows. How will the quickly-evolving digital technology affect the outcome of our increasingly angry, divisive society?
“The screen is the altar. I’m the one they sacrifice to. Then till now. Golden Age to Golden Age. They sit side by side, ignore each other, and give it up to me. Now they hold a smaller screen on their lap or in the palm of their hand so they don’t get bored watching the big one. Time and attention, better than lamb’s blood. ”
In Neil Gaiman’s American Gods, there is a war between the Old Gods and the New Gods. The Old Gods are the gods that were born out of the myths that our forefathers created to instill morals and values in our societies. They are the gods that our ancestors believed in and worshipped, bringing them from their home countries when they immigrated to America. Gods like Odin - the Norse God of Wisdom; Anansi - a trickster folk hero from the Ashanti people in West Africa; and Ēostre - the ancient Germanic goddess of spring and fertility.
The New Gods are manifestations of the things that we Americans now worship: Media, Technology, Drugs, Money. As the New Gods are taking over, the Old Gods are dying off. Why? Because people need to believe in gods for them to exist. As we continue to shift our loyalties toward technology and media and away from the myths that were passed down from our ancestors, the gods of yesterday and what they represent will continue to diminish.
“What you offer is existential crisis aversion. ‘Don’t look over there, look over here.’ ‘Don’t listen to that, listen to this.’ You provide a product, an innovative distraction and you keep innovating it and you keep providing it. The beauty of what we do is we only need to inspire. ”
When I read articles in an online publication of my local newspaper, I find myself thinking, Don’t read the comments, don’t read the comments, don’t read the comments. And then I proceed to read the comments and spend a good part of the rest of the day leaving comments in an effort to bring some reason and perspective to an unreasonable conversation.
It’s no secret that our country is divided. Remember when we used to say things like, I won’t let politics get in the way of our friendship and Well, we can just agree to disagree on that {insert political topic} because I respect you as a person? That has sure changed a lot. I have lost many friends, both on social media and in real life, because of our stark disagreement on current political issues. I’ve sat through countless hours of brainstorming and planning sessions, trying to figure out ways to “heal our divide” to no avail. Lately, I am realizing that thinking that the ideas of “civil discussion” and “finding common ground” are about as believable as, well, an actual war between actual gods, old and new.
“There’s never been a true war that wasn’t fought between two sets of people who were certain they were in the right. The really dangerous people believe they are doing whatever they are doing solely and only because it is without question the right thing to do. And that is what makes them dangerous.”
Why aren’t we able to have civil dialogue anymore? Has our ability to converse in a civil manner been ruined by our ability to hide behind the safety of a screen and say things that we wouldn’t say to someone’s face? Or do we just believe so much in our cause and that we are “right” that we aren’t willing to even try to find that ever-elusive “common ground”?
How is it that we have all of this technology and information, literally at our fingertips, yet people quote memes as fact and don’t read past headlines? In The Power of Myth, Joseph Campbell said,
“One of the problems we have today is that we are not well acquainted with the literature of the spirit. We’re interested in the news of the day and the problems of the hour...”
Campbell believed was that if we still had myths in modern culture, we would have stronger communities, stronger values, and a better understanding of ourselves.
“I can believe things that are true and things that aren’t true and I can believe things where nobody knows if they’re true or not.”
While I agree with this theory, I also believe that if people were more knowledgeable about issues they were concerned with, they would have a much higher tolerance for differing perspectives on those issues. For example, to say Muslims are terrorists! is false; but based on the way that Muslims are portrayed in the media and entertainment, and how violence is classified as terrorism when the the perpetrator is Muslim, it’s easy to understand why people would really believe the stereotype Muslims are terrorists! If we turn off our media for a few moments and did a little research, or talked to a Muslim, we would learn that Islam is, in fact, a peaceful religion. We would learn that the Five Pillars of Islam guide Muslims to live a pure, peaceful life, dedicated to their One God and helping others - which bears a striking resemblance to Christianity. We would learn that both The Qu'ran and The Bible are often misquoted and misinterpreted and that just as there are terrorists who commit heinous acts in the name of Islam, there are also terrorists who use Christianity to justify violence. I’d like to think that Knowledge is a God and should be worshipped more often. The more we know about history and how it relates to current affairs, the better equipped we will be to progress as a society. Knowledge would require investing a little more time into learning, to reading past headlines and memes, to seeking out news sources that offer different perspectives, and talking to people face-to-face. It would require us to truly learn about each other and gain new perspectives.
“Religions are, by definition, metaphors, after all: God is a dream, a hope, a woman, an ironist, a father, a city, a house of many rooms, a watchmaker who left his prize chronometer in the desert, someone who loves you—even, perhaps, against all evidence, a celestial being whose only interest is to make sure your football team, army, business, or marriage thrives, prospers, and triumphs over all opposition. Religions are places to stand and look and act, vantage points from which to view the world. So none of this is happening. Such things could not occur. Never a word of it is literally true.”
Are we doomed to continue the path we are on? As technology continues to advance, will the divide grow even deeper? Are we already past the point of no return? I wonder about the different generations living today and how they will shape the future. The Baby Boomers, who grew up in a technological landscape that seems primitive by today’s standard. Thankfully, that generation fought many battles for justice, civil rights, and human rights before my generation came along. Personally, I didn’t know much about those particular injustices until the internet and social media came about and opened up that whole new world for me.
And then there are the Millenials/GenY/GenZ generations. So many people are quick to say how lazy they are, that they only care about their screens and are self-absorbed. I can see that from time to time - I have a teenage daughter. But I also see a generation of people who are much more open-minded and accepting than ever before. They don’t see people of color, immigrants, or LGBTQ people as threats or societal problems. They see them as people.
Societies change over time, of course. There was a time before television and radio, times during and after wars, and times of economic bounty and recession. All of these eras had significant impacts on our societies and ways of life, leading to paradigm shifts in how we lived. Right now, we’re living in the midst of technological shifts that are sending seismic changes throughout our social and cultural paradigms. This new era of technology threatens our ability to interact and have productive dialogue and that could be detrimental to our society. But we don’t have to let that happen. We can continue to preserve our values and build community by intentionally interacting with others in a meaningful way.
As Xennials, our experience in both analog and digital worlds gives us a unique opportunity to make a profound impact on the future of our society. As our children come of age we can pass down the important values of the pre-digital age, teaching them about the art of conversation and civil discourse, while encouraging the positive and productive use of technology. We are the bridge between the old and the new. How we choose to preserve and improve that bridge will determine the fate of our society.
“It doesn’t matter that you didn’t believe in us. We believed in you.”
Notes
Image: “Rope Bridge” by Siggy Nowak is licensed under CC0 Creative Commons.