musing # 2 -- the "look at me" generation

Jennie Yabroff closed her article "Here's looking at you, kids" in Newsweek of March 24th with these words:

"One thing you can say for the Look at Me's is that they won't suffer the collective amensia of their boomer elders, who often boast about being too stoned during their youth to remember it. But this generation may have something else in common with boomers: they are so busy documenting their experiences, and being documented, that they may end up with postcards of a trip they have no memory of taking."

She's talking about the documentation generation. She defines them (us/me) as those born after '82, but I'd push that barrier back a few years. We're also apparently called "Millenials."

And it all reminds me far too much of something (brace yourself) John Mayer sang years ago (2001), before Facebook was even around (hard to believe, but the 'Book launched February of 2004):

"I'm writing you to catch you up on places I've been

You held this letter probably got excited, but there's nothing else inside it

didn't have a camera by my side this time

hoping I would see the world with both my eyes

maybe I will tell you all about it when I'm in the mood to lose my way with words"

and then later:

"Oh, today I finally overcame

trying to fit the world inside a picture frame..."

I always liked those lyrics. Now I know why. I've never been one to take pictures excessively, I didn't actually ask for the digital camera I got as a gift a few Christmases ago, but this weekend, as Lawrence celebrated KU's Final Four victory over UNC, I got a text from my sister, cheering on the Hawks from Washington, D.C.:

"Send pics if u can!!"

I grabbed my phone, (I had left my camera behind half on-purpose), hopped up on a planter at 9th and Massachussetts St., and joined in the fray of flashes to make sure and document what I could already see with my own eyes.