My reaction to the Beloit College "Mindset List" was sort of mixed. I think some of the topics were accurate, but it seemed the majority weren't very close to how I see my role in this generation. It could be that I'm not one of those teenagers who is glued to technology to the point where my cell phone is an extension of my hand. When reading through the list, I felt it almost portrayed my generation as though we don't know about how culture has changed in the many years that passed before and since and we were born. I'm not sure we're quite as ignorant it makes us out to be.
This list made me wonder if I'm the minority in my generation or if many young people would agree with me that we're not all helpless without our handheld devices and internet. I am still able to use a pen and paper and write a letter using "snail mail" as it was called, but it's just not the main means of communicating anymore. In fact, I never used my email until this fall. Now in college, I am required to check email and get on the internet everyday in order to complete homework. So in reality, it's not just young people who are technology dependent, technology bridges the age gap more and more all the time.
On the other hand, I didn't think the entire list was way off base. One of the best I thought was the reference to Beanie Baby collections and the strategic trading of them. I smiled reading that because I remember when my brother and I were younger we collected mountains of every kind of Beanie Baby you could imagine. I loved playing with them and creating ultimate Beanie Baby wars with my favorite ones. It brings back fond memories of my childhood, and it's fun to think about those things again every once in a while.
Overall, after reading this list it makes me curious to know how other people feel about it. I'm not sure it is completely accurate, for example I don't know what kind of coffee a "venti half-calf latte" is, but there were topics that I felt related to our generation too. I suppose every generation has their own individual experiences with pop culture and history, and the only thing to do is to recognize them simply for what they are. Just different.
