Maybe it’s growing up on-screen—college-age students have never had to look at a map before they start a trip, rarely need to print out a ticket, and are never stumped by “Who is that actor who played Donnie in ‘Even Stevens’?” A lot of the world, or at least answers to trivia questions and where we can get frozen yogurt, is literally in our pockets.
Students expect life to be this easy: a student I know called his Mom and told her he was out of money as he walked to meet his friends. She electronically transferred money into his account, and by the time he opened the door to the bar, he could buy the first round. He ended his story with, “I love technology!”
Technology does make so much of our lives easier and I have to admit, I’m as addicted to all of it as my students, and like most of us, I cannot imagine life without it. Almost every time I check the weather or what time it is in Abu Dhabi, I am grateful.
But two apps in particular, Uber and GrubHub are ubiquitous in 20-something year old lives, and probably add to the sense of entitlement millennials are being charged with. With Uber, you tap an icon, a pin is dropped at your location, you plug in where you want to go and how many seats you need, and voila! In three minutes, Rodrico or David or Mike or Denise are coming to get you and take you wherever you want to go.
GrubHub has hundreds and hundreds of restaurants available, depending upon where you live. You tap an icon and a pin is dropped, and hundreds of menus are available to you. The world is your oyster, pad thai, burger, gyro or old school pizza. Just click, click, click, and whatever your hunger desires is brought to your door.
It’s like magic: traveling is almost like teleportation and food delivery is almost as good as a drone drop in the Hunger Games. And there are extra benefits, especially for today’s often more socially awkward young adults: when the car comes to get you to whisk you away, and even more importantly, when you get out of the car, there are two things you don’t have to do (other than walk or drive yourself). One is talk. You don’t have to actually speak to your driver. Once you get in the car, your destination is revealed to the driver, meaning you don’t have to speak. You also don’t have to pay, or at least it feels that way. Your app has your credit or debit card number stored and the tip is included (another bonus――no math!). You hop out of the car and yes, you can immediately open the app again, check your ride history, and see the amount that’s going to be deducted from your account, but who is going to do that? You’ve arrived at the party/concert/game/restaurant. You’re not going to look, but even if you did, a number on a screen does not have quite the impact as cash out of your pocket.
The same pattern occurs with Grub Hub. You order the delicious food from the myriad local restaurants and when the food is delivered, you need only say “thank you,” though that’s not even necessary—they’ll forgive you and fill your next order, too, if you forget. Once again, the money is simply withdrawn from your account with a whoosh you’ll never hear. You don’t need to touch that dirty money and neither does the delivery person. You do have to add the tip yourself, but never fear, Grub Hub has done the math for you and given you choices of what percent you’d like to tip. (Tip for you: Aim for the middle, and you still won’t have to think much!)
When you go to any of the Disney parks, you’re given a bracelet (connected to your credit card, of course) that is your hotel key, park pass, and everything in-between like the $3 water bottle, $5.75 hot dog, and $17.95 Minnie Mouse hat. If you’ve been to all-inclusive resorts it’s like that too. People greet you in the lobby with Campari and sodas and you just take it (and say “thank you” because you are an adult, after all). Well, now real life is just like a premium vacation. We can move through the world feeling like these indulgences are already included! I really don’t even want to contemplate how this must feel for those privileged enough to have their debit card “loaded” from their parents or other sources.
Millennials are often self-deprecating about the accusations against them, and I think that’s a good thing—a sense of humor about oneself is something everyone should learn to develop. I am not some old professor shaking her fist at the sky about “kids these days;” I am grateful that I get to work with them, and that’s what I’m thinking about: gratitude. I appreciate technology and all that it affords us, and merely hope that the younger generation can simply pause every now and then, like the student who bought his friends a round, and be grateful for the lifestyle new innovations bring to us all. Let’s not take technology or each other for granted. In fact, I might be especially grateful for the technology that allows me to stay in touch with my students after they graduate.