Young & uber-connected

First there was Generation X, then GenY, and now it's GenTech, as CBS News puts it in some of the best, most balanced coverage I've seen yet on our ultra-connected teens. We, CBS says, are "adult culture," kind of a new way to describe today's generation gap, since baby boomer moms and dads had unimaginably minimal options for socializing as kids: in person, by phone, and in writing (on paper). There is no leveling off of teen socializing online, of course: 24% more teenagers are online now than four years ago, CBS reports. One article in the CBS series is about MySpace, reported by its writer, Sean Alfano, *from* MySpace. Note one observation from a mom on MySpace about her teen MySpacer – that her daughter was kind of processing her feelings and issues on MySpace first, that things could come out more in person *because* of that process (it wasn't clear if the mom was monitoring her daughter's MySpace use, but she was a member herself). Another mom said her son Matt (15) was learning "the responsibilities attached to speaking your mind," and Matt told Sean that "he appreciated his mom checking on him to make sure he does nothing stupid," though he would tolerate no censorship of his "R-rated" profile. You can get to all pieces in the series from that first link in this item.