Friend and reader, Doug, made this comment to my last post. He's generally cleverer than I am, so here are his thoughts where you don't have to go hunting for them in the comments. Thanks Doug:
When we were growing up, every significant milestone in the Boomers' life was heralded on the cover of Time magazine -- Boomers Turn 40, Boomers Return to Church, Boomers Breed, Boomers Retirement Coming Soon, etc. It seemed to wither up after that last one and I have a theory about this: The Boomers' retirement means that they no longer holding the senior editorial positions in the mass media any more.
My theory extends to the younger years of the Boomers' lives as well -- The Beatles, Vietnam, Woodstock and the rise and fall of Disco. In that era it was the parents of the Boomers who shaped the message of the media and they were just so proud that they had to write about their kids. That is only natural, I love to write about my kids as well. The difference is that these parents (aka The Greatest Generation) bred en masse and this boom had a significant impact on the demographics of the country, therefore it was extra special.
This trend will continue past the retirement of Boomers and likely always will. When our generation ("X") got a few years beyond college, we made our mark. The alt rock of our high school years became mainstream. We embraced the Internet and the changed the definition of "mass media". The kids graduating from high school in 2009 will do the same thing in about ten years.
So, I don't share the vindictive attitude toward the Me Generation, I view what they did and what happened as a consequence as inevitable. The demise of their influence is also inevitable -- and quite welcome as well.
As for marketing a radio station to them in 2009, I think it's a bit crazy. If we're talking about terrestrial radio, it's a dying medium aimed at a demographic beyond their prime earning years in an era when the economy has shifted people away from raw consumerism. If it's not terrestrial radio, you're pushing new media to a group that is well behind the curve on the adoption of Internet or satellite radio. Good luck with that.
I think my comment is now longer than your original post. You seem to have struck a nerve.
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3 comments:
I'm flattered, but dispute your characterization as "generally cleverer than I am".
For example, you would never include a sentence that says both "no longer" and "any more".
Is this thing still on? Where are you?
I was thinking about this post recently, esp. in light of the "ok, boomer" meme (which I'm enjoying immensely).
I wrote "the kids graduating from high school in 2009 will do the same thing in about ten years" and it's now been ten years! I suppose this is true but I think I care less about trends in mass media than I did then.
On the other hand, my elder child graduated from high school this year, so I look forward to seeing what her generation does in 10 years. I expect that my peers in the media will write about it with much enthusiasm, as the proud parents we are.
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