Jump David Jump

"GET HIM A BODY BAG, YEAH!"

“I’m so glad I had a childhood before technology took over.” - Banksy

I just had my third baby and I hate to admit that Lori and I are letting Netflix take over Marian and Viola's brains of late. We feel miserable for doing it, but nevertheless they just sit on the couch, mouths hanging open like lifeless zombies. I literally have to get 10 inches in front of Marian's face before she realizes it's me. Etta has made us go from man-to-man defense to zone defense and we (Lori, especially) are definitely feeling that stress.

The thing that bothers me is that I want to give my children the same awesome childhood I had, but I'm afraid that iPhones, iWatches, mini-van movies, and iPads will completely ruin it. I recently read that Steve Jobs didn't even let his own children use his Apple products! It makes me think he was afraid of the same thing!

I don't know if you're familiar with Stranger Things, a new show on Netflix, but it was absolutely fantastic! I was gushing over this show to a customer at The Sparrows and had an employee ask me why I thought the show was so good. I told him that the show perfectly represented my childhood, where I rode around on bikes with no helmets and full backpacks while my parents had absolutely no idea where I was or when I was coming home. That was just the norm in those days!

Growing up, I used to go over to my neighbor's house, The Porteras. We used to watch (on VHS, of course) Rocky 4, The Karate Kid, and Dirty Dancing (my parents told me I was too young to watch Dirty Dancing, so I had to escape my house to watch Patrick Swayze do his thing). And I absolutely loved it! So after each of these movies, my best friends Rich and Gayle and I would go out to the backyard and reenact these movies. All of the dancing, all of the boxing, and of course, the final crane kick in Karate Kid. (But of course our favorite part was when the Cobra Kai yelled, "GET HIM A BODY BAG, YEAH!) It was one of my favorite childhood memories!

I recently had a moment that brought up all of these childhood feelings once again. I heard that Hope Network was showing movies called the "Overcomer Free Film Series" at Wealthy Street Theater!  And there is only one movie left, THE KARATE KID! I was considering taking my girls to it, but I still think they will most likely throw a fit when they realize they have to sit still for 90 minutes. So I told me wife I'll give up EVERY event this month to go and reminisce my childhood. 

Then I thought that as I watch it, I should turn my phone off, old school style. No rings, no beeps, no vibrations, just... nothing. I wanted to relive my childhood with no fancy phones blowing up and nothing else on my mind. Which made me think... Who wants to join me? My friends and I are all Millennials and we have ALL been taken over by the newest and shiniest technology products. But what would happen if for one night we all turned off our phones and actually "hung out", sans cell phones. Afterwards we'll head over to the Meanwhile, sans cell phones, and eventually, decide to go home, sans cell phones. Maybe I'm crazy but I feel this would be so refreshing these days.

So I've decided I am going to send an email to Hope Network and propose they take me up on this suggestion: I want them to encourage the entire audience to give their cell phones to a Hope Network representative before the movie starts and enjoy the movie as they did when they were kids!

 

 

What do you think? Are you up for this?! How about this? Let's use this miserable social media for what it was intentionally meant to do and cause a ruckus! I will tag Hope Network on this Facebook post, but will mention them on the next (shorter) FB post and would love for you to Like/Heart/Laugh/Cry these posts on Facebook and make as much noise as possible to get their attention. If they respond, I'll propose this idea to them and will even offer my services to them to help them pull it off! As they (kinda) say on Portlandia, "The dream of the 80s is alive in Grand Rapids!"

WHO'S WITH ME?!? 

Black on Black on Black

What does one do in a life without close friends? I am fortunate to say I honestly don't know. But that thought this morning made me so appreciative of my own friends. This group of people below, in our annual wine tasting trip up North, has such an interesting friendship dynamic. On one hand we all have our careers that we are focused on, but when you put us into a room, all business talk goes out the window. Then, it's anything but. How many mornings have we gathered around Zac and Mar's brunch table or sat on top of his building, sipping wine, overlooking downtown GR's sunset? How many projects have we gotten behind as a group, out of true support, both in friendship and business? How many evenings have we huddled around small tables at The Meanwhile? Goodness, who knows. But all in all, it doesn't really matter, because it's good.

 

Pick Up The Phone, Diane!!!

I spent this morning listening to the Diane Rehm show on NPR and they were speaking about the Millennial Generation. I get so worked up when this conversation starts and I realize how much I care about this discussion. After attempting to call about 40 times, I never managed to get through. Ah well... 

As a pioneering member of the Millennials at 31 years old (born in '81), I feel so much information is misunderstood. People are attempting to define this generation while they are in their (rather prolonged) youth, but they are not taking into account what this could potentially mean for their future, which seems to be why analyzing generations would be a useful tool. 

For example: 

A recent study called The Truth About Youth by the Mccann Worldwide Group says the three most important issues to the Millennials are: Social Justice, Authenticity and Community. I whole heartedly agree with this analysis (mainly because they have the numbers to back it up) but also because of my own background in relation to my past, present and future desires as a member of this generation.

So many of the groups/books/sites are dealing with these three issues based on the 'current' scenario, not taking into account the future of these three issues. If we were to take the 'intial issues' of the baby boomers or to the Gen X'ers, we would see how these concepts nearly polarized as the generation developed. I call this "First Date Syndrome". When you begin to date someone, you are focused on the initial things you fall in love with, which later tend to annoy the crap out of you: "I love his/her laugh. I love how social he/she is. I love his/her desire for adventure."

As any married person knows, these are typically the exact issues we later come to hate: "Your laugh annoys me, Can't we just stay at home!, We can't afford another vacation!" etc... So, 20-30 years down the road, how will these 'first date' impressions of our generation affect us, the economy and our families?

While there are MANY pros to discuss in relatoinship to the The Truth About Youth, there are issues that, as far as I can tell, no one is discussing. For example:

Social Justice: In an attempt to change the world in our twenties, we'll feel great about ourselves, until we realize we aren't building actual skills companies are looking for. So we'll try to start our own businesses and, for the most part, fail. When we hit our thirties, we'll figure out that in order to have a family, we need real jobs, real homes, and actual skills. We won't have them. I predict the mid-life crisis for a Millennial will start to hit about 32-35 years old where they will give up their Peter Pan dreams and start applying to State Farm Insurance or Citigroup.

I believe this also provides evidence for the Hipster theory. When young people, either subconsciously or consciously, realize their inability to "change the world", their lack of overall purpose and desire to move on reveals they have little to no skill to offer to a typical job. In order to protect themselves, instead of learning skills, they return to, and glamorize, basic manual jobs. i.e. Butchers, Bakers, CandleStick makers. I even have the these same thoughts myself! There is absolutely nothing wrong with these jobs, but you'll see they are in direct opposition to the ideal jobs these groups/books/sites are predicting the Millennial generation will offer the world. (See: Portland.)

Authenticity: We are in awe of how Authentic our generation is. However, what is actually happening is that we are developing specific channels of authenticity. We 'share' our lives via facebook, twitter, but we are only sharing the good parts. We are completely skipping over the #Filterless portions of our lives which is leading each of us to a dual-personality disorder. Over time we will develop two distinct personalities: "on-line" and "off-line". No one is actually discussing this even though we all admit it's true. The most impactful voices on the internet today are those willing to call this out and truly admit their own flaws through a true authentic voice. 

Community:  The world is taken aback by how connected this generation is, yet the statistics show we are the lonliest generation on the planet. We want strong families and to raise children. Yet, both due to our economy and the desires of individual millennials, studies don't support this as truth. Only 20% of us are married in our twenties as oposed to the baby boomers who were at 60% in their twenties. I'm not suggesting this is necessarily a good or bad thing depending on your view of marriage or what happened to you baby boomer parents. PLUS, I'm choosing not to make too large of a statement on this concept due to my personal circumstances.

Here's a hint though: It seems successful families are built on emotional selflessness, communication and financial sacrifice. The Millennial generation is generally known for and spoken of as being elitist, self-oriented (long story to support this), and lonely. This simply doesn't add up. You really think our generation is going to 'save the family'? Married couples in the Millennial generation are just about to hit the 7-year wall. I can only pray they don't meet the same end I did. But, if we can count on historical generations to predict the future of generations... things are not looking good.

I am remarkably proud of my generation. I feel I can truly see the issues we are dealing with; both the pros and the cons, and I feel we need to look through a different filter at what 'success' means to this generation from outside the lenses of our parents and professors. We cannot judge the future using the same economic and social measurements as those who existed before the digital revolution (internet), in the same way as the people who judged the generation following the industrial revolution (early 1900's - 1920's).

It's true, The times are a changin', but let's make sure we're measuring these changes and predicting for their futures in accurate ways. 

Sorry for my rant. But Diane... you gotta pick up the phone. 

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Other rants for other posts: school debt, elitism vs. expectations, moving back in with mom and dad, start-up companies, etc...

 

The New Web...

"The New web is about verbs, not nouns." 

That's a great quote by Ross Mayfield, the owner of Socialtext.  How true!  The original read only web was a static and boring organism full of nouns. The new web allows us interaction.  It's all about doing.  It's a canvas instead of a museum and we are all invited to participate in the collaboration that will comprise it's content. 

There is an entire generation that is being raised with this mindset.  This generation will be the future leaders, business owners, politicians, etc... I am beyond excited to participate in this movement as a connected generation with a global mindset takes center-stage.  It promises to be a society... well, I suppose filled with more verbs and less nouns. 

Collaborate or Perish!

And they mean it!  The authors of WIKINOMICS, Don Tapscott and Anthony Williams, are serious when they lay out the principles of the future of business... no, for the world, "Collaborate or Perish".  Example after example of both failures and successes show us that there is more than possibility or potential in this concept, there is inevitability.  They share the 4 basic principles of Wikinomics: (be it for a company or a country) openness, peering, sharing and acting globally.

Yes, it's true that we are in a shift.  And while many are quick to say that as we move from the Baby Boomers to Generation Y and now to the Millennials, we are merely undergoing a generational transition.  However, this is a paradigm shift, that is occurring simultaneously to a generational transition.  The changes we are seeing are so vast and radical that every generation will be affected in unmeasurable ways.  Other examples of similar shifts include the printing press, the automobile, the telephone, etc...  These are all new tools that make the world smaller.  Tools that create a smoother connection between people, companies and countries. 

Now, we have the web.  Not just the "publish and read" version of Web 1.0, but the "read / write" version of Web 2.0.  This is the next connection that will catalyze change and introduce us to the future.

"The new Web - which is really an internetworked constellation of disruptive technologies, - is the most robust platform yet for facilitating and accelerating new creative disruptions.  People, knowledge, objects, devices, and intelligent agents are converging in many-to-many networks where new innovations and social trends spread with viral intensity." 

"The next twenty years of globalization will help sustain world economic growth, raise world living standards, and substantially deepen global interdependence.  At the same time, it will profoundly shake up the the status quo almost everywhere -- generating enormous economic, cultural and political convulsions."
   
-Wikinomics

Community based on Connectivity.

It's safe to say that will the increased presence and viability of online social networks, we are well into the next phase of the internet; connectivity, a main component or THE main component of web 2.0.  A few years ago, or maybe in the early 2000's, one of the biggest buzz words was 'community'.  Maybe it was a a backlash of the 90's, or maybe it was a silent desire for a web 2.0 model, but it was present.  Everyone became very 'community-oriented' from businesses to churches.

As I was thinking about this next turn of events, this newfound connectivity will most likely rearrange our previous thoughts of what community is.  I cannot speak for sure, but I would venture to say that most people say their "myspace" friends would count as their community.  I balked.  That cannot be community.  They probably never even see these people.  In order to debunk this theory of true "online community" I took crazy measures... I looked up the definition.  Don't be alarmed, I used dashboard, I didn't actually go OPEN a book, because then I couldn't have done this:

 

The first definition satisfied my thoughts.  "Living in one place together". 

Then I moved onto Number 2.  A group of people having a religion, race, profession or characteristics in common.  Shoot...  Rather nebulous.   

Number 3 shot my theory to hell.  "A feeling of fellowship with others sharing common interests/goals". 

Number 4 obliterated it,  "a group of interdependent organisms together or found in the the same 'habitat' at the same time."

Community is or can be pretty much what we decide it is.  Work, family, Church, University, online social networking, forums, people who all like Gouda cheese,  pretty much whatever you want can be declared community.  However the ONE thing that is consistent in all of these definitions is without a doubt, connectivity.  Yes, they are all different types of connections, but they are present nonetheless.

We are moving into an age where connection is becoming easier to obtain, manipulate and/or dictate.  I think this truly has serious implication for our "modern day" communities.  While this prediction could have been made, and was, 20 years ago, I guess what I am saying is that it is happening right now.  We are experiencing a new time period in which you have friends you've never met and your closest allies are on a different continent and all become you share common interests.  You were able to find or connect with one another.

If you work in a high school, university, a church or you manage a business,  think long and hard about this and the implications is has on your organization.  And the rest of you, if you are breathing, this impacts you as well.   This is important and it's not going anywhere.

Calvin Klein is In2U (if you blog, that is...)

For a long list of reason, Calvin Klein's commercial for CK ONE (the infamous, "Just BE") commercial has gone down in history as one of the weirdest, best, strategic, successful, grungy & anti establishment commercials in history. Glorifying anorexic ambivalent teens, CK One became an overnight success selling 20 bottles per minute at it's peak! IN April 07, CK tried to strike again with CK in2u. Using similar materials to an Ipod and using shorthand text message speak, there is not surprise who the target market is. My favorite line in the article, "Can Calvin Klein seduce the Millennial Generation" is: "We have envisioned this as the first fragrance for the technosexual generation." Here's the best part. What is the technosexual generation? Anything Calvin Klein wants it to be. They trademarked it. Right now they are targeting to "texters and bloggers." If you can't put a title on your target market, create a new title and then exploit it. My other favorite thing about this cologne/perfume? You can actually buy it in Second Life. How's that for taking advantage? Digital perfume. And here's another nugget for you. Check out the website for in2u.

Virb vs. Myspace

I like Virb better than myspace. I think it looks cleaner and I like the fact that it is more centered on media (or so it seems). Check it out. www.virb.com