Good evening welcome to the author series tonight we are pleased to have Julie Albright author of left to their own devices publish this month by prometheus. Specializing in Digital Culture and communication psychology in the Engineering Department university of Southern California research focuses on the growing intersection writing on Digital Culture is a number of scholarly articles and has served as a peer review from National Science foundation and Research Council and a friday of other professional publications a sought after keynote speaker and consultant doctor albright has given talks at the Data Center Energy conference and a Research Assistant at eharmony and an expert in National Media outlets nbc nightly news, wall street journal cnn New York Times and npr. Left to their own devices she takes a penetrating look at the behaviors of the Digital Natives the young people who had never had time without Digital Technology. With that interaction has changed their relationship with peopl people, places, jobs and other stabilizing structures while in the process to create an entirely new way of lif life. While new Technology Connectivity is given Younger Generations an unprecedented opportunity to work anywhere coming from traditional aspirations including increased isolation the femoral relationships fragmented Attention Spans whats more this rapid change of lifestyle creates a widened chasm from those were brought up through the proliferation of Digital Technology the greatest gap in history timely and necessary through technological change with the unintended effects the always on devices have from business in society. So to speak more on this subject please join me in welcoming our author. [applause] its great to be here. I thought i would give you a little more insight into my background to understand ron coming from to approach this subject i have two masters degrees one in counseling i also have a doctorate from sociology and Family Therapy son looking at it in terms of the psychological trends and then the micro level on the ground what are the impacts on kids and relationships and community . And with that context and then the more specific. So one of the ideas i am exploring the way the frame up was happening and i use that is one of the analytical frameworks the two strands of behavior that these two are now intertwined to that behavior shapes technology and technology shapes behavior and thats where we find ourselves now. The idea being that Going Forward in my view Behavior Technology will never be torn asunder again. Like the dna that behavior the dna of society now new social behaviors, new ways of doing things. New ways of living and thats what im exploring. So the second big idea and this is what runs through the book as a cornerstone is coming on tether there are young people in particular that are Digital Natives who grew up in a world of internet in mass they are unhooking from things that were traditional for other generations for example like getting married, buying a hom home, buying a car, having childre children, going to church or joining a political party. Those behaviors since world war ii people are unhooking from all of these things at the same time with hyper action to Digital Technology if you think of getting married, by a home, having two. Five kids we think of that as the American Dream if we say hide you to find the American DreamSomething Like that is usually in the description how people talk about it. So to come in tethered is not only what im exploring in this book that we are coming away from these social structures and truly changing everything. Part of what is changing his childhood it has been driven indoors. I dont know if you have seen the statistics but only 6 percent of kids play outside at all anymore. 93 percent of adults spend all of their time indoors so really from nature i dont know you might remember playing outside when you were a kid riding bikes are going hiking. Routinely. But there is another aspect if you want to go hiking or ride your bike you have to find your way home or a dog comes out in all kinds of things that you have to overcome and find your way back and navigate back home for go there all kinds of obstacles and challenges and kids now are not doing it there experiences are digitized in simulated so what is happening kids are not developing a very important quality and we are seeing that in university and it is resilience to bounce back from a setback that you can overcome adversity there was an example recently kids found a rat come into a dorm room they called 911 they would call the police because of the disaster in their apartment. So the idea that sometimes they are not quite sure how to overcome but they cant with disastrous consequences to not having resilience in the Younger Generation. Now talk about millennial Digital Natives were there always was internet but now we have kids with the mobile devices those that are internet enabled like ipad laptops now they are given these devices at infancy there is a band that had an album cover called Remote Control it was a wink and a nod to think about these behavioral impacts that people thought television would warp kids brains but now i will show you a little picture now is 2018 and this is a real product on amazon where the kid has an ipad right at their face from day number one. Potty chairs. Right there. We are actually feeding Digital Technology before they acquire language skills. Neuropsychologists neuroscientists know that there is something called brain plasticity childrens brains are malleable what you put into them will shape that neural pathway of children so what is the outcome . What will happen where babies are infants that have Digital Skills before acquiring language . What is the outcome of that . We dont know that so to lead to all this input most parents now say we have the tv on at the same time so there is always stimulation there is always a noise or sound or visual so what does that do to attention and thinking instead of being shaped by all that input . They dont know yet and that will be determined on the horizon thats where we are at and a study of that being fed to children. So we could say this is rewiring brains and that is where we are at. I told you people are coming in tethered and one reason is because they have so many choices to say i worked as a researcher with the harmony on eharmony to match People Better when i started my dissertation it was a webbed base matching service now we have phones at apps where people are just swiping and it becomes a game so what has happened it is presented young people the idea you have an unlimited sea of torso choices in front of you with romantic relationships. What you think if there is unlimited sea of choices but what happens is in bc this with consumer psychology there is a paradox with the idea the more choices you have it makes it more difficult to choose there was a study if youve ever been in the store or a market where they give out samples of food there is a table set up they set that up with samples of jm and the first day there were 24 varieties. They said try them and then they gave a coupon to buy a jar after that. The second day instead of 24 they only gave six and the same coupon. Common sense you would think the more choices you will find it but it turns out thats not the case with daily were offered any tenth is less when they had more choices than less so now there is a paradox of choice is called choice overload the more choices we have a makes it harder to choose maybe some a little hotter or richer or more interesting they keep swiping and swiping them they dont choose anyone at all. Half of americans are not in a romantic relationship 65 percent of High School Kids have never had a romantic relationship back in world war ii many married their high school sweetheart. But now they dont have that. That changes the dynamic. One of the reasons they bring that up with all the swiping its easy come easy go for dates that people just disappear its called ghosting they just never contact the person again they ghost somebody but thats what they are doing and the same idea with the choice overload is now happening in the workplace there is the endless Jobs Available now they just think they could get another one and another one. The idea of the endless sea of choices is changing their willingness to commit because maybe there is something incrementally better out there may be a romantic relationship because of the endless sea of choices. And what is happening is changing adulthood and what that means. Sociologist who studied the mark of adulthood the five markers. Leaving home, becoming financially independent to marry and have a child. If you go back to 1960 by age 3077 percent of women and 65 percent of men had achieved all five of those markers. But if you fast forward to now its only half and only one third of the men so in a sense we are living in a period of extended adolescence and that is the on tethering from this adulthood. Some people say maybe we should just unhook from these devices that it is becoming harder and harder because in one sense they are addictive i dont like that word but now that we have mobile phones, they are baking in those policies that are similar to a slot machine and we know gambling is addicting you pull the arm maybe win or not i will try it again. Now suddenly all the coins fall. So thats exactly how instagram and facebook works your scrolling on the slot machine. Sometimes the content is interesting sometimes its boring but nevertheless it keeps drawing you back in for more. So those drivers that are the most predictive to come back for more and now becomes harder and harder. Even that alert have you ever seen people checking their phones around you . Even if its not even vibrating. They just want to keep checking and checking thousands of times a day. So the problem becomes this. Im not trying to be amish back to the buggy days but what i am saying is that the combination of devices and conductivity from the destabilizing social structure has younger people on board. Is the highest depression 30 years. I work in university so i am on the front line but with that psychotropic medication for a medical disorder so to come in tethered in some ways with a stabilizing social structure with mental and physical health so to reinvent that how do we do that . As we pull away from the social structures how do we create new structures because obviously we have a problem on our hands. So i will read to you an excerpt from one of the chapters this is called the untethered result and this will give you a sense. Chapter three. New york city it is the bit small where we unlock the door to the apartment in the west village over the next few days with the dream of the bright lights and caught the acting bug in high school but to manhattan makes it much more difficult tall in the pale skin in the protruding ears gave an appearance after his career failed to launch the apple store in midtown manhattan written on air b b to stay with his girlfriend. They seemed friendly but harried as they rush through when he sprung up i caught my breath to see how cramped it really was. It literally filled the whole room the only free space was an area at the end of the bed to turn around stepping inside i was overwhelmed by the sweat and mens cologne and worn shoe leather. I searched for something to anchor me. I realized it was up interest worthy model of urban organization. Every square inch was utilized and neatly organized. And then to hold the glass of water or cell phone and a closet system on the wall held a small tv surrounded by shelves neatly arranged by color and season. Even at 5foot 9 inches i literally have to jump to get in any shorter i might not have made it. Shoes line the shelves i was thank you for the windows that gave me breathing with a tiny space. The news was winter by ed juliet balcony i could see below and the snow. Trucks piled up in men hustled through the snow bank. People were bundled up in scarves and hats and shiny boots. Roy rushed out after pointing out the bottles of shampoo and conditioner he left for me on the bed on top of the instructions he had written was a small orange origami flower he folded himself. I picked up the sunshine and turned it between my thumb and forefinger for a closer look and then i stepped back to look around all three bedrooms opened into a windowless living room on one side a plastic storage box neatly folded clothes were stacked floor to ceiling against the wall also coming out across the water from the kitchen serving as the dining Table Holding their silverware and glasses and dishes pegs under the cabinets held spoons and spatulas a collection of small pans cascaded on the right side of the cabinet. A single diminutive angle bathroom hid behind the kitchen the smallest bathtub i have ever seen it was like a half tub only a smile small child could stretch out there were through rebates and they all shared this tight space a comparable los angeles would be the rent for one. Pale skin and strawberry blonde i would come to new york for an internship at the guggenheim she always seemed preoccupied with something and it seemed so strange that none of the roommates were ever there and two transient visitors occupy their space now to the new transient roommates in this tiny space. Roy, his roommates are all untethered adults young and professional and urban and on the move would rather read than own and increasingly living single almost half households contain a single occupant and in some neighborhoods its as high as two thirds this uptick is not unique to manhattan but indicative of a larger trend sweeping the nation as a millennials are avoiding getting married altogether. Getting married and having a family what is an aspirational goal for many women getting married having a family they were priding themselves to buy a home in the suburbs two. Five children and a dog and a Station Wagon of the driveway these were not only markers of adulthood that one had achieved the American Dream. To marriage and establish a family home was a steppingstone that is called the transition to adulthood so to study this transition for decades and five key markers of adulthood leaving school completing school a fulltime job to marry and have child now we see a shift of these milestones compared to earlier generations in the fifties and sixties most americans view these roles as synonymous for men the defining characteristic to mean to marry and support a family but for women it was getting married indeed most women in that era married before they were 21 and had at least one child before 23 most young men and women were recognized as adults socially and economically. Young people in their twenties and thirties are now on tethering in large numbers from the traditional markers choosing instead to experience but could be thought of as an extended period of adolescence. Because the markets had moved the road to adulthood it is fraught with anxiety as the path becomes unclear to gather theres stories her anxiety as she discusses the array of choices available to her to make that achievement difficult and thats what she said 28 i could say sometimes i feel like an adult with a lot of the times i dont to be a millennial and try to be an adult is disorienting i cant figure out vessels to start a nonprofit get another degree be a wildly profitable entrepreneur or make it all look effortless online mostly just looks like taking a job that will never pay off my student debt in a field that i didnt study but to hold up myself traditionally im also not nailing it. Im not married and not into a longterm financially stable career. That im holding myself to an unrealistic standard considering the economic climate and that to be a millennial is exhausting is unfair to judge myself i fall into the trap of comparison often enough. Sometimes i desire those things for myself or sometimes because of instagram may standards are not low they are wondering. Many millennials decks are wondering wandering from job to job and home to home and relationship to relationship. Digital technology serves as that connective tissue to keep their Network Contact this reconstitution of the social networks allows freedom of movement for any specific physical locality most did not wander more than 18 miles from their mother on the other hand almost one quarter have not left home at all or as a way to simply enjoy the comforts of childhood. This represents a market by previous generations by age 3077 percent of women and 65 percent of men have achieved all five of the markets and by the year 2000 fewer than half and one third of the men for gore recent study of young adults between 18 and 25 and their romantic relationships found the most Prevalent Group is postponing a serious relationship through the late twenties or later but having to experience a romantic relationship at least three months in duration by age 25 these findings suggest that perhaps the evolution of that normal step toward adulthood even our needs to be revised. So i thank you can see the word that is missing his commitment. I started the chapter out with a quote from William Murray a world war ii music teacher and outdoorsman he joined the argyle highlanders during world war ii and supposed to be in the middle east and north africa but he became captured as a pow and spent time in a work camp in germany angeles of nokia and italy. While there he started to write a book on the toilet paper that the gestapo gave to him and it turned out they discovered this book and took it away and destroyed it that much to the prisoners surprise he started again on another role of 12 paper. So when you think about it, they thought he would never climb again he was in near starvation mode but he finally got out in the work was published in 1947 followed by another in 1951 he is credited to get people excited to go out in nature and mountain climbing again so this is a quotation from his book and it opens the chapter. Until one is committed there is a has hesitancy the challenge to draw back all this and effectiveness with all acts of initiative and creation there is one elementary truth that kills countless ideas and splendid plans. That moment when it definitively commits oneself all sorts of things occurred that never would have occurred the whole stream of events and decisions and all manner of unforeseen incidents that no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Genius power and magic begin now. Thank you. [applause] do you have any questions . How do you take away a device from a teenager when they are so addicted . It seems like it is a part of them if you admonish them then you take the device away then they become another person. It speaks to this tethering. It is difficult. I think one thing we need to do especially as adults is be good role models and we should set aside there is a no device time in one of those is family dinner table. And we all need to do this not just kids to have the time to reconnect to each other studies say even having a phone on the table out of sight, out of mind to have this time can help reconnect with each other and the relationship will be important we also talk about an tethering from the body in nature to go on a hike all of these things are diminishing this is still the National Park so to make time for these things to reconnect to nature and to each other, there is a whole list of things we could do that just beginning to create these patterns is important for all of us. Thanks for writing the book. So why did you write the book . Do you have a plan to write a sequel . Thank you so much. I wrote seven book chapters about different aspects of online life is changing the world always the bridesmaid and never the bride but i knew i had a lot to say about this issue because i have been studying it my whole career that i have a particular interesting take so to frame these issues. It started off with the white paper we just kept talking to these ideas and i created a white paper that theres a lot to say in a lot of different vectors this is happening and that expanded into a book project. I dont have any idea of a followup book that will remain secret at the moment but i have proposed a followup. Thank you for asking. So every generation complains about the Younger Generation and massive change. It makes sense to try and stop this change or embrace it . One of the things people talk about from all the Big Companies even the smartest in the room one of them brought this up so what people dont account for is the accelerating pace of change but what they dont understand it took 30 years for people to have a car that is generations to adapt to that. Like the ipad or the internet the adoption curve is almost a straight line. And to see an tethering happening and to spin out and we really dont have a good timeline so thats one area. Lewis that accelerating pace of change to be significantly different in that digital era like railroads and ships. So talk about that shifting factor why do you draw on the connection directly from Legal Technology and not what this is what they have to do . And think about changing norms or values around single motherhood. Im not really telling anybody what to do but to illustrate what is changing and what the patterns are. There was a whole lot of disparity out there and as you see that under the umbrella to become untethered and then to top focus on the adult chapter that there is a host of information out there people in committed relationships are healthy we have a Mental Health crisis on our hands at this moment so what i am suggesting is to shoot out of the box like a horse race it has gone long enough more people are connected and the unintended consequences and then to say lets take a step back. And then to make informed decisions and then over social institution is just a matter of stepping back to decide if thats the way we want to be