Seeking passion in the Information Age

There is a crisis in the psyche of our generation — we are apathetic amid global crises, we are jaded amid nonstop innovation. President Clinton understood that no matter how prosperous the economy becomes or how successful U.S. military maneuvers function, "we can still fail unless we meet the great crisis of the spirit that is gripping America today." Apathy is not a random occurrence — it is the product of social circumstance. In our times, it is the product of an untested and disunited generation.

Students today have less access to the traditional support structures that were available to other generations: family and religion. Between 1972 and the middle 1990s, the percentage of children living in households with only one adult rose from 5 percent to 20 percent. Stable, two-parent families are becoming the exception — rather than the rule — for American children.

Daycare centers around the country provide care for children while their parents go off to work. This forces kids to become more independent and take on more responsibilities than they might otherwise. During the same period — between 1976 and the early 1990s — the percentage of 12th graders reporting weekly religious attendance declined from 41 percent to 32 percent. A stable family and religious observance are important contributors to the formation of a sense of personal identity, and their absence can produce a feeling of alienation. The American phenomenon of "Bowling Alone" — rather than as a group — is symbolic of this alienation.

This alienation is magnified for our generation in the Information Age. The Internet provides a voice to more people than ever before — between 1994 and 1996, nearly seven million new web addresses were registered — but all voices are less audible in the crowd. And the rapidity of change further alienates by destroying even the 'illusion of permanence.'

The Princeton Theological Seminary's Institute for Youth Ministry has tried to address these new Information Age anxieties: "The one constant in the postmodern adolescent's experience is upheaval. Truth changes daily." The Seminary offers God as "Truth beyond relativity."

But there are political solutions to our anxieties, too. It is not uncommon for generations to experience some degree of alienation. But ours is the first generation of the 20th century without a defining generational experience. Our parents had The Movement and 1960s, our grandparents had World War II and the Depression, our great grandparents had World War I. There is no comparable, transformative experience that shaped the consciousness of our generation. Impeachment isn't quite what I mean. Our generation is defined not by its accomplishments. Rather we are defined passively by the way the Information Age shapes us.

Alienation breeds apathy by stifling the passion within us. The unfortunate irony of globalization is that, as global issues such as poverty, disease and ethnic conflict increasingly demand political action, our alienated generation views politics with distaste. Passion struggles to emerge from this generational apathy. It searches endlessly for a cause, burning to make itself a martyr — but that cause is elusive. Earlier generations attached their passions to social or religious movements and wars; indeed we are fortunate that our apathy is the product of inexperience with war. We are profoundly unfortunate, however, that chance has deprived us the opportunity to test ourselves, to try our passion — and I am impatient for that opportunity.

In the recent presidential election, Americans who regularly attend religious services were more likely to vote for George W. Bush; those who do not were more likely to vote for Al Gore. Similarly, married Americans were more likely to vote for George W. Bush; single Americans were more likely to vote for Al Gore. The political divide between married and unmarried, religious and non-religious is important: These are the cultural divisions in which our generation and future generations will be raised. And as our generational identity crisis comes to bear, we may find our 'defining generational experience' in the primary political task of the 21st century: namely, to design a politics that addresses the needs and anxieties of the children of the Information Age. Adam Frankel is a Wilson School major from New York City. He can be reached at afrankel@princeton.edu.