More from New York mag

This time via WMB.

Read it first.

The author identifies what she believes to be the first true generation gap since at least the advent of the rock and roll era. Its catalyst is the generic myspace/facebook phenomenon.

Right now the big question for anyone of my generation seems to be, endlessly,"“Why would anyone do that?" This is not a meaningful question for a 16-year-old. The benefits are obvious: The public life is fun. It’s creative. It’s where their friends are. It’s theater, but it’s also community: In this linked, logged world, you have a place to think out loud and be listened to, to meet strangers and go deeper with friends. And, yes, there are all sorts of crappy side effects: the passive-aggressive drama ("you know who you are!"), the shaming outbursts, the chill a person can feel in cyberspace on a particularly bad day. There are lousy side effects of most social changes (see feminism, democracy, the creation of the interstate highway system). But the real question is, as with any revolution, which side are you on?

Her answer to her own question is obvious enough.

Frustratingly, but as per the norm, inqueries into the salvific (is that a dirty word?) effects of a movement so sweeping and all-consuming are completely ignored. That's the shit that really bugs me, too.

It's easy to acknowledge that, "Hey, the kids are alright after all, the big privacy scare was overblown!" However, failing to consider or even recognize the possible aggregate cultural and thereby societal consequences of having a generation growing up having their every desire for both voyeurism and exhibitionism instantly gratified requires accepting some sort of responsibility for the future. We're raising black holes of self-absorbtion, which should bode well for all of us in about 25 years. Where are the Al Gores on that one?

Sometimes I think that God let me live at this moment in history as penance for all the awful sins he knew I would someday commit, because he also knew that I would really fucking hate the world, most of the time.

I'm going to delete my facebook and myspace profiles when I get home, in protest of self-absorbtion and 100 million teenagers. (Futility reigns supreme.) Don't forget me when I'm gone.

ADDENDUM: Because your curiosity is piqued, I'll save you the trouble of trying to dig up who the "Susie" mentioned in the article is. Her real name is Libby Hoeller, and I would bet money that you've probably already jerked off to one or more of her webcam stripteases (originally intended for her boyfriend). I think the first one of hers I had I found by chance on Morpheus. Yes, they're that old, and that legendary. Be assured of their absolute authenticity. Happy Googling.