Life through the eyes of a millennial
Insomnia has taken hold as I battle hoards of mosquitoes, hoping to catch some shut eye. It’s Monday morning, four ‘o clock to be exact. To add to my distress, the phone buzzes repeatedly as messages stream in.
I roll back and forth. I’ve given up on the hopes of sleeping. It’s Dave. He has just uploaded his EP onto Soundcloud, excited as comments are exchanged, he wants to know what I think. Dave is a close friend of mine. So expectedly my opinion has become important, despite the fact that I have a terrible ear when it comes to music.
I am that typical MTV kid, raised on music videos of Eminem, Britney Spears and NSYNC.
My knowledge of music is dangerous to say the least but I can’t tell Dave that. Not because I’m scared to hurt his feelings but because my expert opinion would leave much too much to be desired. I take to the social network and post my comment. Dave’s close to finishing his music degree and is ever eager and excited to take on the world.
Dave is a fictitious character, a figment of my mind, so to speak, but also a prototype of thousands of young men I see around me. Dave is a typical millennial, call him a born free if you must, liberal, free spirited and totally unconcerned about developments in the Central African Republic.
Dave has no idea who Janet Yallen is and do not even dare explain to him what fracking is. Can you blame Dave though? High walls, electric fencing, video games and that suburban upbringing have helped to shape him.
The fact that Dave walks around with earphones plugged deep into his ear sockets does not help and Dave is totally unaware of what is happening around him.
Dave takes no notice of the municipal workers who stroll the street he lives in to empty the wheelie bins periodically. Unaware of the abject poverty these men and women live in and the fact that theirs is a community that is a mere thirty minutes away from where he lives, Dave happily strolls along and continues in his quest to exist, not merely live.
As Dave ventures on, he takes out his smart phone and comments on Stuart’s facebook status. Stuart is undecided about whether he should continue with his iPhone and gets embroiled in a debate about how it compares to Samsung’s Galaxy S4. This continues and joins the Twitter fracas as Miley wrecks yet another ball before uploading a pictures onto Instagram and finally takes to Whatsapp as he sends loads of messages out.
Dave typically embodies the born free, a millennial. If he so chose, Dave would rather listen to an indie artist on Soundcloud, watch unedited and unbiased footage on youtube as yet another suicide bomber takes to the streets of Baghdad in the hope of raising a political point, and share his sentiments with thousands of Egyptian students caught up in a political nightmare.
Waking up for Dave entails logging onto facebook. He needs to see who’s liked the hundredth picture his just uploaded via Instagram. He really couldn’t be bothered about peace efforts in South Sudan. To him, it’s a faraway country nestled somewhere in Africa. Dave follows trends, the Twitter type where conversations are centre around #HowToGetTheBestOutOfYouriPhone.
Dave has the world at his fingertips, in fact, Dave can fit the world into his back pocket if he wants to. Metaphorically he does this anyway. Dave is not remotely aware of the power he holds in his hands and the potential to accompany it. Dave is really only concerned about the bells and whistles. To him it’s just another smart phone anyway.
Dave continues taking zero notice of the world as he happily strolls along, eager to meet up with Stuart later on. The big day has finally come. Dave has waited for close to eternity to finally see Pink Smudges perform. At least that’s how he feels considering the fact that it’s only been six months. Dave carries on, seeking an existence and forgetting to live in the process, Dave carries on.
