What am I?

First came the Baby Boomers. And that made sense - after World War II, there was a 'boom' of births. Then, around 1960, the boom was over, and there was a new period - a 'baby bust'. The busters would go on to be labelled Generation X, possibly because Ghostbusters had yet to be inflicted upon the world. Generation X was followed, aptly enough, by Generation Y. I can only assume that this name came from the "machoism" of the disco era leading to the decision that its generation should be named after the chromosome present in the macho-est gender. Or maybe not.

But then things got complicated.

More scholars believe that Generation Y ended sometime between 1995 and 2000. But that doesn't seem right to me. Surely people like me, who grew up at least knowing what the Internet was, in some cases having Internet access from five or six years old, should be somehow separated from those who didn't even hear of it until high school?

And the other question - even if I do have to reluctantly be a part of Generation Y, what do we call the current generation? Among the names I have heard thrown about, Generation Z is the most logical, but also the laziest. Generation C makes no sense whatsoever (and is probably used for that reason alone). Internet Generation is too clunky. eGeneration and iGeneration are both tolerable, but lack a certain je ne sais quoi.

The worst of all, however, is Youtube Generation.

I understand the allure, especially if you are using a later start date for this generation. Generation Y would be able to remember a world without Youtube, and have at least a vague understanding of how it works. Generation X and above will not know much more than "it's that website where you can watch videos", and will have likely never used it. The Youtube Generation will be the first for whom it has always been there, always been prevalent, always been mainstream. So on that level, it makes sense.

My gripe with the Youtube Generation label is from another perspective. If an entire generation is branded as such, surely some would assume that all comments left on Youtube videos are at least somewhat representative of that generation?

And what's the harm with that, you ask? Well, among Internet-savvy types, Youtube comment boards are generally regarded as the lowest-intellect form of Internet debate.

Don't believe me? Have some examples. I searched youtube for "September 11", clicked on the first result, and these were among the first ten comments I saw:

"If a fire can bring down a building in a gracefull demolition style, I'm going to start up my own demolition company called "Demolition By Fire". Why waste money on charges and explosives if all I need is jet fuel and a book of matches. Wake up America. What part of two planes bringing down three buildings don't you understand? It just can't fucking happen!"

"hahahaha!! thats what america deservs for being so racist and stupid!! osama bin laden for life!!!!"

"hahahaha so funny i love this i fought it was a movie the first time i saw this omfg!! so funny!!!! :P:P:P::P:P is this real cos if it was i would love to be there :) so happy i wasnt there :( all i can say if it is real all thoses people got owned :DDDD gf? BEN 10 BEN 10??"

Okay, so maybe September 11 was a little extreme of an example. How about something a little more peaceful, like Canada?

Well, the first result for 'Canada' was a video called 'Canada vs. America'. In the interest of getting my point across, I'll stay away from that one. Farther down the page, I see a video of O Canada being sung at a hockey game. Among the comments to come out of THAT...

"this song is almost as boring as canada itself"

"Hey, you dumb Puerto Rican.….I know a good place for you…..The middle East (LOL), this way, when Bush gets enough guts, he can drop his “nuc” and level the whole entire middle east………..HA HA HA HA HA……………. And all of us Canadians wouldn’t have to deal with you terrorists ever EVER again………HA!!!!!!!!!!!"

"next time whyte ave riots, i hope you get water cannoned."

"Canada rules my fiend, the previous comment goes to that Lastdotcomunist idiot, theres nothing better than being a patriot, listening "O Canada" made me feel like in a soccer game, but this was better, a hockey game. By the way, Nuke USA!!"

"Canada is dumb and boring. It rains and snows a lot there. The people say "ey." They sound like there's a rock in their mouth every time they open it. They are pale. They are sickly. Their taxes are too high. They stink at basketball. They are tubby. They are racist. Canada deserves to be nuked for being a wuss country. Those fans should feel ASHAMED for singing that song. "

...then I gave up. I was maybe a tenth of the way down the page.

So, yeah. Media types - before saying "Youtube Generation" again, maybe you want to think about what sort of message that could be sending.

--Ryan