Skip to main content

Information - Responsibility to Obtain, Responsibility to Share

Information. Some people have it, some people want it. Whose responsibility is it?

I’m not talking about something high stakes, like secure memos and such. I’m talking about simple answers to questions.

But the answer to “Whose responsibility is it?” is not so easy.

We’ve got a huge generational divide, my friends. And the generations are not necessarily based on age.

One group is the “Internet Generation.” Let’s call them the IGs. They can be any age, but they are the people who have been so deeply connected with the internet for the last 10-15 years that they’ve soaked up certain cultural norms related to being online.
sign for internet


The second group is made up of the “Casual Internet Users” or CIUs. They use the internet, but it’s not their second home.

They don’t look that different, at first glance. You’ll probably find members of both groups on Facebook, or reading your church newsletter in their email.

But their respective experiences with the internet have dramatically shaped their feelings concerning who is responsible for information sharing/obtaining.

Speaking broadly: IGs believe that if there is easily-obtained information to be had, it is the responsibility of the individual to get it. CIUs believe the responsibility is on the person doing the communication to explain any terms used.

Here’s the background: When the Internet was new, IGs would enter into communal spaces (bulletin boards, social media, etc) and would be chastised if they asked a question that was in the FAQ – a list of Frequently Asked Questions. This taught them that it was their responsibility to seek out information before daring to ask a question. This is now so much of the IGs collective norms that:

a) there are websites where you can get information on new or slang references, (such as https://www.urbandictionary.com/ and http://knowyourmeme.com/)

b) There is a snarky website called “Let Me Google That for You” (http://lmgtfy.com/) where you can send people when you feel they asked you a question with an answer they could have obtained for themselves.


Contrast that with the CIUs. For older CIUs especially, “looking something up” for their homework didn’t mean pulling out their phone, or even laptop. It meant going to the library or if you were lucky, going to that giant set of Encyclopedia Britannicas in your den. Better to just ask Dad why birds fly south for the winter, and hope for a good answer.

We know that the internet is changing our brains, and in addition to mere habit, we are probably fighting different neurological patterns that have been laid down through our respective experiences. But it can mean big problems and hurt feelings across the generations, simply because one group doesn’t understand the cultural expectations of the other.

In a church for example, here’s how it may play out: an IG member writes a newsletter column and uses the term “YMMV.” A CIU member reads that, doesn’t know what it means, and feels excluded. The IG member assumed that everyone would either know the term or look it up – but probably this assumption was at a subconscious level, because it’s just part of the norm in IG culture.

IG isn’t trying to exclude anyone. CIU member just wants to know what’s going on. No one’s fault, they just speak from two different cultures.

In the end, for those of us in covenanted communities, our question is not really “whose responsibility is it?”

The question is, How can we be hospitable and respectful to each other, across this cultural change?

IGs: go the extra step in explaining any slang or pop-referential terms you use, when you’re trying to communicate to a wide audience.

CIUs: if you see a term you don’t understand, first type it into google and see what comes up. If you can’t find an answer that makes sense, ask the originator. Most people are happy to explain, especially if you’ve tried to find the answer yourself.


Oh, and YMMV … https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/ymmv

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Me and My Collar

You may run into me on a Friday, in my neighborhood, so it's time I let you know what you might see. When I was doing my required unit of Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE), my supervisor suggested that any of us who came from traditions where a clerical collar was an option, take one "collar week," to see how we were treated, as opposed to wearing regular professional clothes. After a couple of days, I joked to the Catholic priest, "How do you manage the power?" In regular clothes, I would walk into a patient's room, and it would take about 5 or so minutes of introductions and pleasantries before we could really get down to talking about their feelings, their fears, the deep stuff. With most people, as soon as that clerical collar walked in the room, with me attached, they began pouring out all the heavy stuff they were carrying. I was riding the bus back and forth every day, and though not quite so dramatic, the collar effect was alive there, to...

Beloved Community: The Now and Not Yet

Rev. Christine Robinson has a great little post up about the phrase "beloved community" and why it's problematic to use that to describe a church. Like her mom, I can get cranky about the whole thing, but my crankiness lies in the misuse of what is, to me, such a breathtaking and profound concept. Martin Luther King, Jr., someone whose words I study in great detail, is the one we often think of as originating the term, but he learned about it through the writings of Josiah Royce. Josiah Royce (right) with close friend William James.  Royce was a philosopher, studying Kant, Hegel. I imagine he would have enjoyed Koestler's theory of the holon , because he saw humanity as being both individuals and part of a greater "organism" that was community. As King's belief about Beloved Community would be rooted in agape , Royce's philosophy stemmed from what he called loyalty, and by that he meant, "the practically devoted love of an individual f...

To Love the Hell Out of the World

To love the hell out of the world means to love it extravagantly, wastefully, with an overpouring abandon and fervor that sometimes surprises even yourself. That love flows out of you, sometimes slow and steady, sometimes in a torrent, sometimes filled with joy, sometimes with fierceness, or anger, or a heartbreaking pain that makes you say, "No, no, I can't take this anymore. I can't do anymore. It's too much ... too much." But it's too late. You've opened up your own heart, your own mind, body, and strength, and yes, it is too much. But there's also so much love that comes crashing down on you, gifts from the Heavens in the form of the smiles and cares from others, a giggle burbling up from a toddler's fat little belly, the soft, sweet smell of star jasmine catching you unaware, not knowing where it came from ... but it's here. And you're here. And just to live, just to exist, swells your heart with enough gratitude and love that you mu...