Hooked Up: A New Generation's Surprising Take on Sex, Politics and Saving the World

by Jack Myers

After two decades of technological disruption, economic collapse, social upheaval, political polarization and a war on terror, one generation carries on its shoulders the responsibility to return us to a time of social balance and economic growth. The Hooked Up Generation was born into disruption, but is destined to lead the world into a transcendental period of tolerance and peace. They are hooked on the Internet, hooked together by the Internet, and hooking up in relationships managed and defined by the Internet.

Jack Myers tells you why today’s college students may prove to be the next Great Generation and possibly the greatest generation of the 21st century. The Hooked Up Generation will make you hopeful about its future and yours.

Genres: Nonfiction

286 pages, Paperback

First published June 10, 2012

About the author

Jack Myers, founder of MediaVillage.com and author of The Future of Men: Masculinity in the Twenty-First Century, Hooked Up: A New Generation's Take on Sex, Politics, and Saving the World, and several other books, is a recognized cultural visionary, award-winning documentary film producer, and advisor to hundreds of leading corporations on media and technology trends. His prescient insights and counsel make him one of the foremost global experts on the impact of technological advances on culture, society, business, advertising, marketing, and human connections. He has been honored with a George Foster Peabody Award and Academy and Emmy Award nominations for Best Documentary Feature. For more information, please visit MediaVillage and follow Jack on Twitter @MyersBizNet. For weekly news on gender equality, gender politics, and the shift in gender norms in business and culture, visit the Future of Men channel.

Reviews

[Vin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nice guy, Jack. Yet like so very many of his age peers, he can't seem to perceive much more than the most superficial aspects of the great changes underway in media. Like most veteran practicioners of the Industrial Era's Mass Media, he thinks the greatest change underway is that consumers are getting 'hooked up', changing their media consumption habits from 'analog' to ' digital'. His late-Industrial Era framework makes him oblivious to how the change from relative scarcity to surplus in consumers' access and choices of news, entertainment, and other information, has fundamentally transformed the media environment from one dominated by Mass Media to now Individuated Media, reducing their consumption of demographically-packaged contents and switching to consumption of individual items, from any vendors, that more exactly match each of those individual consumers' own unique mixx of needs, interests, and tastes.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent read. Informative without being dry. A tell-all for marketers interested in the "Internet Pioneers."

[Nick Jones · Rating 1 out of 5]

A collection of random data, layman's observations, weird anecdotes, irrelevant pop culture blogging, general rambling, and predictions that almost uniformly didn't end up coming true. Much of this read like a wishlist of how Jack Myers hoped millennials aka the "Internet Pioneer" generation (a term he was desperately trying to get over, which nobody has ever used outside of this book for that cohort) would turn out, rather than intelligent analysis.

Strangest thing in the book: A very strained attempt to claim that most of the attitudes of the referenced generation came from Harry Potter, including the bizarre idea that people who grew up reading the series would want to make magic real and go into bionanotechnology as the next best thing.

[Grady · Rating 5 out of 5]

Drop the fear of the `unknown' and embrace the future

Jack Myers has accomplished something in his book HOOKED UP that he may not even know: he has assuaged the fears in those of us who were not born into the computer/Internet generation, mistakenly thinking that spending the bulk of time in front of a computer or an iPad or iPhone or laptop or other device that provides constant Internet access is producing a generation of asocial creatures - people who will eventually not be able to adapt to the world of reality. As Myers explains in this excellent book, nothing could be further from the truth.

Myers takes the time to explain the history of the computer and its gradual development to the stage where we are now and then focuses on the young men and women who were born between 1991 and 1995 - the time when the Internet was born - and explains how these individuals have grown up in a world with different values and different methods of relating and communicating. As Myers states in his introduction `hopes for a positive future are hard to come by as we progress more deeply into the second decade of the 21st century. A new century begins with hope. But for a generation entering their teen years early in the millennium, hope was marred by the 9/11 attacks, economic uncertainty, social unpredictability, civil unrest, political polarization, global chaos, climate crisis, technological disruption and cultural dispassion. What doe the future hold for this generation, and how will this generation impact the future? The answer lies in the minds and actions of the self-assured, self-aware and tech-savvy Internet Pioneers - a group of 21.2 million Americans, born between 1991 and 1995, is the first generation to grow up after the Internet browser Mosaic was introduced in 1993.'

Myers then proceeds to share with us the research he has done with his interviews and studies of this group of people and examines the manner in which they behave technologically, communicatively, sexually, educationally, and on and on. The increased capacity to access instant information, he sees, as a speed course in problem solving unlike any we have ever seen. He does not see this group of people as isolated but rather that their means of relating are simply more immediate and different that those ways to which we older people have become accustomed. It is as though this group of people who were born into a world of extraordinary chaos in every mode of thinking and behavior will be the ones who will find the solutions to the current problems of the world. Having been known nothing but disruption they will find the road to survival - that road being one directed toward balance, socially, economically, and even spiritually.

Myers book is not only informative about how the Internet Age functions but It also sets aside the growing fear of some manner of approaching Armageddon. It is a book that restores hope and a sense of relief, and allows us to respect rather than bemoan those young people who text their way through life and find their joys on an instantly changing screen. We can breathe!

Grady Harp

[Jim Gallen · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Hooked Up” is a synthesis of a study of the attitudes, beliefs and practices of Americans born between 1991 and 1995. This “generation,” The Internet Pioneers, are different from every preceding generation because they have grown up totally in the Internet Era. A life without constant I-Pods, immediate access to information and contact through texting is beyond their ken. For this generation, Marshall McLuhan’s “The Medium is the Message” is on steroids.

Author Jack Myers interviewed members and observers of the Internet Pioneers and made liberal use of available surveys. He leads the reader on a survey of the subjects’ views on relationships, sex, pornography, women’s rights, politics, social issues and others. He studies their views of, and influence on, television, entertainment and the nature of celebrity. The reader is guided through consideration of the literature that is shaping the Internet Pioneers, such as Harry Potter, and the way they will shape marketing, work and culture. No study is complete without an assessment of the future awaiting these young people in terms of their careers and domestic arrangements.

Before commencing my read I was leery that this book would contain dire predictions of rejections of tradition in favor a new, rootless paradigm. As I progressed I was pleased to find that such was not the case. Myers presents a population searching for truth that is found in different ways and, in some respects, peculiar to its time, as has every generation before it. I often rate a book by whether it encourages me to learn more or change my outlook. By this standard, “Hooked Up” is a success. I now understand the habits of my Internet Pioneer acquaintances better than I did before. Perhaps Harry Potter would help me understand the world in which I will live. Perhaps I should open social media accounts. This book will keep me thinking. You should get started reading.

I did receive a free copy of this book for review.

[Darcia Helle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book fascinating. While full of facts, the writing style is engaging rather than a dull recitation of information.

As the parent of a 21-year-old, I was both encouraged and enlightened by some of the material. This age group is the first to grow up completely immersed in technology and, finally, we are given a clear and honest look at what that means. The good news is that it's not nearly as negative as some 'experts' would like us to believe.

We're given insight into this generation's feelings on politics, religion, sex, alcohol, music and more. We see how they've been influenced by popular TV and whether this generation of gamers is really made more violent by the games they play.

I think this is a must read for parents, educators, and psychologists who want to better understand this age group. I also think politicians would be wise to pay attention.

[Rand · Rating 5 out of 5]

“They will be the inspiration, creative force, intellectual foundation, economic backbone and social conscience of the 21st Century. They are the generation that will lead America and the world into the most important and formative period of the 21st century.”

[Nancy Pollak · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting perspective on internet pioneer generation.