With the advent and popularity of MySpace and YouTube, kids are finding themselves with less space than ever, however virtual they think it may be.
As they spend hours uploading photos and recording each personal indiscretion, this savvy techno-baby generation will one day find they have lost the only real space that ever mattered . . . personal space without continual voyeurism.
As a society, we have almost by default decided "self-esteem" is the most important attribute for our children to have, far surpassing the ancient adage of having a good, solid character for its own worth.
Today, children are taught they must feel great about themselves first and foremost, many psychologists and self-proclaimed experts preach, whether they are doing anything worthwhile or not.
Self esteem didn't come simply by birthright, or as a result of filming a YouTube video partying with friends, or designing websites devoted to the most important person in the universe-- yourself.
Rather, one gains respect, strength of character and earned wisdom which may result in self-esteem, but then again, this should not be the ultimate goal for children or adults to ensure they may become citizens with value and integrity.
With thousands of teens spending time writing about how they feel, as opposed to how others feel or act, or how they may contribute or even change the world they live in, we have allowed much of a generation to grow up with visceral apathy as an accepted trait, which is nothing to feel esteemed about.
Far from the 1960's and '70s when college students fought police in the streets against the war and for civil rights, and when young women burned their bras rather than receiving boob jobs as graduation presents, this generation is at a big loss, and many of us parents have become the biggest cohorts and supporters, along with Madison Avenue and techno babysitters to blame.
It's so much easier to let a kid live in their own room where you might not see them for hours, with their loss of soul buried in their computer, digital camera, iPod and cell phone at hand that you have provided. You know you have. And the price is far larger than any financial debt you may have accumulated
There can hardly be time or inclination left for embroiled discussions about anything if you're never even in the same room together. The classic teenage words, "You just don't understand" aren't even said, because barely anything is.
I can remember after eating dinner at the table each night with my family when my father shouted out for us to be quiet so we could hear Walter Cronkite give us the latest news about the Vietnam War or the Civil Rights Movement, or Nixon's resignation speech, or God forbid, even The Dick Cavett show and Masterpiece Theater.
I can also remember intellectual discussions with my father and close friends-- endless debate that often lasted into the wee hours of dawn about philosophy, art, culture and politics.
There are many moral character wounds that arise with this new infantile and selfish identification, but even more precarious is the fact that each time a teen shares with millions of fellow internet icons their most personal thoughts, including images that would shock even the most progressive parents; they are unaware how this might play out in their future.
This is what makes teenagers innocent and enviable on one hand, while the most dangerous species on the other. By nature, they have no sense of mortality. Rather, they are about everything that is exciting and miraculous for the moment-- which for them is infinite.
Therefore, when they boast into cell phone cameras dramatizing each activity, including drunken escapades and endless verses of self-adulation, they are unaware one day they might just wish to hit the delete key, but once given birth in cyberspace, there is no such key or link.
Furthermore, to an adolescent today, the future is as un-virtual as it gets. And if you can't send it through cyberspace, then it isn't actually real.
Not all MySpace websites and emails are scurrilous. Some are simple playful diaries of the young and the restless. And to be fair, some sites document seemingly-sincere reflections of how they see themselves in a world they either don't understand or think they understand too well.
On the dark side, there are sites and videos that the word "exhibitionism" can't begin to describe. Blatant personal dramas are displayed with horrific stories that as a viewer you can only hope are fictional. Largely, narratives are not about any protest against or for societal issues, but simply ongoing hate and love letters to ones' self with self-aggrandizing.
By nature, teens want to be popular with instant gratification and fame constantly fleeting. Our modern society has obviously decided that celebrities are to be worshipped, especially if they are acting out of control.
Embarrassing photos and quotes will be recorded not just in a yearbook, but by anyone including adults with far from altruistic tendencies, who are out there in droves. Whatever is downloaded can be uploaded and can be on record forever.
What will happen when this generation hits their 30's and even their 20's? Will they feel humiliated or proud? Will there be an epidemic of lawsuits against My Space and YouTube when they become parents and claim to have been naive participants- demanding all past histrionics be deleted from the black hole of Cyberspace?
Most likely, there will be lawsuits claiming no responsibility, which ironically is what the web largely symbolizes. It is a virtual life more real for the user than the one often lived, and yet everything can be anonymous with no one to answer to and no one to blame, and yet there will a lot of blaming yet to come.
My Space is not about anyone's space at all, but rather about taking up the most crucial and valuable space of a generation.
It gives viable minds the winking nod that's its okay for them to take up as much space as they want virtually nothing at all, and takes space away that could be given to a productive and valuable life.
The generation of baby boomers and parents a bit younger, such as I, who watched a war unfold, unravel and become a nightmare may now be raising a generation of kids who may not know or care what is going on at all.
After all, if you are the universe and everything revolves around you, why should it matter whether the rest of the world is embroiled in any war of any scope?
This is not to say self-expression is unimportant, or that each generation has a swear-bound duty to forge its own path and to upset the generation before.
But a generation suckled on the need to be constantly seen and heard leaves a generation that is heard and seen but doesn't listen much.