Mind the Gaps

Why is that in age of unfettered, near ubiquitous forms of communication and access to information about the wants, fears and desires of our fellow Americans are we seemingly becoming increasing polarized, distrustful and disdainful of each other?  Or is the access to information and communication only allowing us to see what has always been below the surface?

Let's look at a few tech policy related gaps after the jump...

Talk Shows vs. Blogs
Liberals have long complained about the echo-chamber of circular conversations on Conservative talk shows that hold powerful sway in many parts of America. Is the blogosphere the progressives answer (assuming Al Franken isn't)?  And, if so, is it the right one?  If one big group of American listens to radio shows show and the other reads RSS feeds, where do we begin to find mutually acceptable solutions?

Washington DC vs. Silicon Valley
This is, of course, largely the reason that this blog exists.  But, as far was we've come in bridging the two worlds together, there still is a long road to go and an acknowledgment that the two will never completely "get" each other.  One is nuanced, opaque and deliberative.  The other is hyper-active and over-communicates to the point of creating white noise.  Both think the world revolves around them and each have too many people telling them that they are right.

The best way to bridge this gap is to get DC to understand that SV is merely a symbol for the technology and innovation that improves the lives of their constituents in their rural, suburban or urban districts.  Yet, too often, we get hung up in over-explaining technologies and SV's "special" perspective.
The Fearful vs. Optimists

Our poster boy for the fearful is the Wisconsin state legislator who opined:

"Members of Congress better wake up to the fact that the biggest threat to our liberty isn't Al-Qaeda, but technology."

Many of the fearful are technophobes because they don't understand new technologies.  However, a remarkable number of the fearful have deep technology founding.  They are the programmers, hackers and full-time activists who gleefully point out imperfections in technology implementations.  This, of course, serves a useful purpose to a point.  Yet, when the fearful create an overly "it-will-never-work" negative environment for a technology that could someday serve a useful purpose in society, than the smugness wears thin.  (One example:  Electronic health care record implementations).  We admittedly align ourselves with the optimists, but also acknowledge that those in our camp must do a better job of proactively anticipating and solving issues before they are waived in our face by those on the other side.  (P.S.  Optimism should not be confused with opportunism).

The Millennial Generation vs. Gen X vs. The Boomers
As the LCD Soundsytem song goes (video above):  "I'm losing my edge to the kids coming up from behind, but I was there....".  Gen X is cynical, snarky and is willing to tell you over and over that we were there when Netscape went public and Hotmail was the hottest thing in email.  We are constantly talking about technology and its implications.  The much bigger generation coming up from behind just goes about using the technology in all aspects of their lives.  Gen X was a quaint trip to Friendster every week or so.  The Millennials live and display themselves on MySpace and are only a text message away from their friends and classmates at any moment.  Ask a 37-year-old if they've ever even been to MySpace and they'll probably say no.  Ask them if they've texted, and if they're American, they'll likely look at you funny.

Now, the many of the same Boomers who wore flowers in their hair are view MySpace as a threat and could be willing to throw the baby out with the bath water "to save the children."  The more they learn about what is happening on the Internet in the kid's bedrooms, the less they like about it.  (BTW, we use "MySpace" as short hand for social networking, en masse).

Will there be a Rock & Roll versus the establishment battle in the coming years based on what is consumed via technology?  Will the Boomers desire to treat content that is delivered over the Web and mobile platforms the same as their parents decided to treat broadcast television content? 

We're curious where Gen X will come out in this battle between the two big generations that sandwich it.  Will we try to serve as an interpreter between the two generations?  Will we look into our young children's eyes and recoil at the thought of what their social networking profile will look like in a decade?  Or, will we remind people that we were there when this whole thing got going; that we're optimistic about where it's going; and, we're even willing to get on a radio talk show to prove it?

Of course, by that time, kids being kids, they'll probably rebel against the technologies that revolve around them and everyone older than them will just stare at each other with appropriately confused looks.

We'll continue to think about other gaps that touch tech policy.  Feel free to suggest your own.

-SG

Comments

[Matt from Bite]

Coming from a gen Xer, one of the real debates I see is parents relying on the government to sensor their minds, and the minds of their children. While desperate housewives line up to ban myspace.com, shouldn't we be asking the real question, if you don't want your kid surfing the net why do they have a computer in their room and a lock on thier door.

In my opinion, many of the social issues that are going on today, including the banning of profile generating websites to "to save the children" and laws censoring television, movies and video games are a way for American parents to get out of parenting. If you don't want your kids surfing these sites or watching these show, block them from your home and instill values in your 9 year old that would sway them from pretending to be a 19 year old sexually experienced college sorority girl.

Like most things in this world, technology can be used for many different purposes, both good and bad, and the answer does not lie in banning it, but creating a society that gravitates toward what is best for the social whole.