Activation generation

Last Thursday, MTV released a \nreport ...\nYes, you read that right.\nIn their continuing quest to involve themselves in everything except music, MTV released a report on the findings of an extensive survey regarding activism among young people, ages 12 to 24. True to form, while their presentation was striking -- indeed, I would describe it as being a sin against the graphical arts and (aesthetically) the single ugliest piece of research I've ever seen -- their content wasn't terribly groundbreaking. MTV's central conclusion was that an "activation gap" exists between the number of young people expressing an interest in getting involved in social causes, and the number actually involved in said causes -- that is, more people claim to be interested than actually do anything. \nIf I may deliver a message to MTV on behalf of all of social science: "Duh." This gap exists because young people are, generally, human -- and, hence, subject to several well-documented phenomena that produce such results. For example: the collective action problem (everyone sees that something onerous needs to be done, but hopes that someone else will do it -- the result being it doesn't get done) and the tendency to provide "socially correct" answers on surveys (in surveys more people claim to vote than actually do, and tend to express more love for their fellow human beings than they have, etc.; all because they're worried about what the researcher and society will think of them).\nA more interesting question than the one at the core of MTV's report, however, is why the Viacom-owned multinational media behemoth should be interested in this issue at all. Part of it is probably so that MTV can play at being a good influence the next time uptight parent-teacher groups try to have them dragged before Congress, and part of it may be that the halls of MTV are lined with guilt-ridden former-hippie execs who see this and their Prius as proof that they haven't "sold out." But, at the risk of giving MTV credit for something other than attempting to kill popular music, I think they may be on to something that will only get more important with time -- something that will not just affect MTV, but all of humanity.\nWe individuals have so much power today. As I noted last Monday, the information revolution has delivered so much more capability into our hands -- and it's only growing. So much of this has come at the expense of traditional, hierarchical, formal institutions. Today an individual, or a network of individuals, can hold their own against governments, companies, churches, established media and more. But while the monolithic organizations fall to our newfound liberty and efficiency, we're going to have to take their place. Young people matter as never before.\nThus, you must ask yourselves: What are you doing with this power? Are you going to use it for good or for ill? What do you want?\nMe? For starters, better music on MTV.