Monday, April 21st, 2008...10:37 pm - Catherine Gleeson
Toxic Gen Y tribalism: The wrong kind of connected?
A story on 702 (ABC Sydney Local Radio) caught my ear this morning - for two reasons. 1. that Truth is indeed stranger than fiction and 2. the implications of technology and so-called Gen Y “tribalism”. A bunch of girls at a Catholic school in Mackay formed a group called “Club21″. Apparently, entry criteria is really simple: you have to be thin and pretty. Anyone who falls outside that “range” is automatically excluded - ie: “fat, ugly girls need not apply”. Members display their ranking on their wrists as a mark of their status.
On Truth being Stranger Than Fiction: anyone familiar with the work of Chris Lilley will be no stranger to the grotesque caricature (yes caricature) of his character Jai’mie in Summer Heights High. However, the “Club21″ girls are mimicking the grotesque without any irony at all. Having once been a teenage girl myself, I understand that this is not entirely surprising - but surely a tiny little bit of irony and the smallest smidge of self-awareness wouldn’t go astray?
On the implications of Gen Y “tribalism”: Dr Michael Carr Greg, a founding member of the National Centre Against Bullying, an official ambassador for the National Depression Initiative Beyondblue and (among other publications), author of “The Princess Bitchface Syndrome: Surviving Adolescent Girls” said he’d never known a generation of young women as tribal as Gen Y - “They come home from school and disappear behind an emotional Firewall known as MySpace…”. He claims that the intensity of this tribalism would not be possible without the ubiquity of connecting technology, that in young people and adolescent girls in particular, the ease of virtual connection intensifies “tribal” relationships.
But is there really anything fundamentally different today, about the nature of tribalism in young kids and girls in particular? And has technology really reworked the DNA of adolescent social networks, or has it merely made existing tribes bigger? From personal experience, versions of “Club21″ did exist when I was wading through my adolescence. In fact in opposition to the intense silliness of said clubs which made most people feel like rank outsiders, yours truly was responsible for forming the “Tuckshop Ladies” and “Pigs for Lunch” societies, membership of which was open to all and sundry (probably enough said).
4 Comments
April 22nd, 2008 at 1:42 pm
I blogged about Danah Boyd’s ideas on social networking and education last year at http://www.aftrsmedia.com/digimedia/?p=66 She has a much more progressive take on Gen Y tribalism and cyber bullying than some of our Australian counterparts. One of the most interesting things she points to is a research report done by the National Schools Board of America which compares the fears of policymakers and parents with the realities of social networking. Great reading at http://files.nsba.org/creatingandconnecting.pdf Danah’s thesis is that parents and educators have whipped up this hysteria by over-protecting teenage children and that MySpace is one of their last refuges from the prying eyes of adults and hysterical researchers.
April 22nd, 2008 at 4:50 pm
It’s facinating to see how young people behave on and offline. Your post reminded me of the doco ‘Growing Up Online’ (http://www.lamp.edu.au/eyeinthesky/?p=17). In the doco (which can be viewed online), teenage girls are seen to bicker at each other online and only on the odd occassion would it flair up into an all out offline scrag fight.
I suppose the online platform has more audience observing (kids from other schools as well as their own), more (crafted) images, more words to refer back to, well -MORE content and a wider circle of influence than a random playground or school hallway altercation. And no teachers around to get in trouble with!
If there is a culture of online bickering, does this mean that there are less offline fights?
April 22nd, 2008 at 6:24 pm
I don’t know, because there’s that “trend” where kids post their offline bullying exploits on YouTube - which is an interesting virtual/ realworld crossover in itself.
April 22nd, 2008 at 6:33 pm
Yes Peter - I’m inclined to agree. I guess that’s why I asked the question is there really anything fundamentally different about tribalism today? It’s an interesting phenomenon - this whole generation of over-protected kids who don’t even get to walk to school any more! In terms of a less progressive Australian agenda - I did find Michael Carr Greg’s comment about teenage girls disappearing behind an “emotional firewall” irritating given that a MySpace page generally facilitates connection rather than isolation.
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