The article points out there could be several reasons for this, pointing to a NYT article that suggests that “digital natives” believe they are responsible for controlling the use of their data and can control it by deleting it or simply not sharing. (However the article also indicates that 88% of young people think that websites should be required to delete all content after a certain period of time, according a study by the Berkeley Center for Law & Technology for the FTC privacy roundtable
The Read Write Web writer, Mike Melanson (@rwwmike), considers :“Or maybe it's entirely the other way around and it's not that the 35+ demographic is incapable of controlling their online identity, but they're more fully equipped to understand the implications of recent changes by Facebook and are making their opinions known.”
Here’s another consideration. Maybe people under 35 don't have very high expectations. There are no significant events during their lifetime to establish the perception that anyone makes money "doing the right thing". In fact, their life's lesson is "get it while you can"
There is a theory used by experts, across the psychology, marketing, sociology, and management fields, that our perceptions are “set” when we are 10-13 years old. So 18-34 year olds were 10-13 between 1986 and 2005.
1986: The beginning of the end of advertising: As cable television Household penetration reached 50%, top management at storied, very profitable, privately held ad agencies cashed out to line their pockets, despite creating client conflicts and reversing agency organizational evolution towards integrated segmentation marketing, by selling to holding companies. ( AdAge provides the cable household penetration and years of holding company deals, the editorial comments are mine based on what I personally witnessed)
The first financial industry bust: De-regulation of the Savings and Loan industry to expand investment diversification and, later, to offset runaway risk by attracting more deposits, led to losses of $20 Billion at over 1,000 Savings and Loans (with millions of depositors?) and the collapse of the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation because it had only $4.5 Billion to cover the $20 Billion in losses. (Figures and timeline from Reuters)
The first Gulf War: US and its allies agree to a “no ground troops”, short term mission to air bomb Iraq to drive back Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait, driving oil prices up , re-doubling the economic downturn started by the mass marketing/media bust and the Savings and Loan collapse.
The internet bust: I’m looking for the dollars lost and the number of people negatively impacted, but haven’t found it yet. Importantly, the people who lost ranged from the individuals who worked at the IPO’ed dotcoms who were restricted from selling stock for 2 years to the individuals who bought the stocks and held them.
9/11: A perfect storm peaked on September 11, 2001. During the 1980's & 90’s, as Islamic cultures' resentment of Western culture and modernity rose, the global communication system Wall Street built enabled global networking, and Western Allies’ “in and out” First Gulf War strategy created tensions in the Middle East, all came together with a well-organized, secret attack on the United States.
The second Gulf War: President George Bush declaration of victory in 2003 turned out to be wishful thinking.
While "under 35 year olds" have understandably low expectations, 35+ers whose childhood is more influenced by the stories of the "Greatest Generation", are appalled that the integrity they thought this Open Internet promised is actually being used as a bait and switch.
