Cultural shift in America

I was at a cross-platform advertising conference through work where a case study was presented for Taco Bell, as the campaign of the year. 

The presenters started by setting the scene and explaining how our generation is part of a cool, cultural shift in entertainment and influence. 

Here was some of the support: 

In the United States these days, guacamole is served at parties and sushi is sold at gas stations, not just ranch dressing with chips.

Hip-hop collaborations are more popular when someone of another culture is included. A Justin Bieber song alone is not popular, but when he partners with Ludacris or Big Sean, the song ratings skyrocket off the charts. Nelly and Florida Georgia Line's "Cruise" was an example from last summer.

Our palettes are moving from American to ethnic. When you go out to dinner, you don't just go to a casual dining restaurant or chain- everyone asks what type of food you're in the mood for and skews toward that (Asian, Mexican, Thai, Lebanese, etc). 

This shift from general market to total market culture is only going to continue through 2014. It's an interesting thing to think about as we grow up! 

The reality of business travel

As a research analyst, I wasn't expecting to travel for work. I'm not a consultant. I quickly learned that between conferences, in-person visits and meetings to clients, campus recruiting and remote employees,  I would travel more than I anticipated. Here are some notes on the reality of business travels - the pros, cons and additional realities.

The pros

• You get to see different cities. Sometimes for long, and others for a very short period of time. 
• Because of corporate deals with hotel parent companies, you're often staying at very nice hotels. My favorite part is checking out the hotel amenities- free omelets for breakfast, pools and hot tubs, etc. 
• Having in-person interaction with the people you are often emailing is always a nice refresher. 
• There is a lot of extra dead time so I get to do a lot of reading - books, audiobooks, magazines, newspapers and more.
• You get to expense your food. I used to feel bad doing this, but a friend recently shed light to the situation by explaining it in these terms. You would not be in that city if it weren't for work. So work will pay for you while you're there. So what beats eating free for a week? 
• Frequent flyer points and hotel rewards are collected and add up quickly, that you can use for personal trips in the future. 
• Taking cabs and car services is fun, so you can relax, catch up on email and not have to navigate where you're going. 

The cons

• Think of all of the work you get done in an eight to nine hour day. Then, think of getting it done, as well as all the emails and requests that come through, during after-hours when meetings or sessions are complete. Business trips require you to squeeze a lot of work in at night, so it's expected that you stay up late and I sometimes feel back on a college schedule with homework. 
• You don't get to exercise. Sometimes hotels have gyms, and sometimes they don't. But I've found myself taking the stairs instead of escalators at the airport just to feel like I'm getting physical activity. 
• Delayed flights kill you, and I often am am enraged on the tarmac when you are back home (or waiting to take off) but can't yet leave. 
• Overall, you're not in control of your own schedule since you're not paying for you to be there. 

The "It is what it is"-isms

• You represent your company, not yourself, when you are traveling on business. So if you roll your eyes at someone, talk on your phone on the plane or do something embarrassing, people won't make fun of you - they'll make fun of you as a member of the company you work for. 
• Sometimes you're working across time zones, so when it comes to co-workers or friends/family, you have to be careful when you contact them. 
• You get your hopes up every time it says "Free wifi" and it doesn't work. 
• You get to know airports and the different gates, as well as the restaurants, restrooms and fast food by them. I was once in the Detroit airport for a quick trip and there was a broken towel dispenser in the bathroom, and when I flew back in the next day, the towel dispenser was still broken. 
• Drivers and other people are listening to your conversations. One time the cab driver heard me on the phone trying to write something down, and turned on the lights. Very observant. 

O'Hare Terminal 3- the American gates. I've gotten to know it here very well.

Hanging out in the hotel hot tub 

Window seat views are great

My car service in Detroit spoiled me!

Lines of communication

Think about how many modes of communication we have today:

• Phone
• Text message
• Email (personal, work) 
• Facebook
• Twitter 
• Snapchat / picture messaging
• Social outlets 

Anyone who we grant access to can send us "push notifications," or permission to notify us when something happens. Rather than communicate more effectively, I've learned these multiple communication methods make things complicated and give us the MAYBE option.

Planning a career fair and other events at Mizzou, being in the corporate world and even making social plans, there is nothing more frustrating than the amount of communication methods we have. Ten years ago if you were planning an event or scheduling something, you would ask someone if they could come, they would look at their calendar while you had them in your office or on the phone and would answer "Yes, I'll be there." or "No, I can't." But with the respond-as-you-can method of email, and text messages for constant updates, people can wait until the last minute to make decisions.

We spend time contemplating how to best reach someone - which account they will check, or where your message will solicit the quickest or desired response. There is no societal hierarchy for which communication mode is prioritized. One person may see a Facebook message first, another might never check. One will see a work email, another sees a text. I'm interested to see how this plays out in our futures and what rises to the top.

The real you

"Let's make the real you also the best of you," Randi Zuckerberg writes in the last chapter of her recently released book, Dot Complicated.

The context of this passage is how social media profiles tend to portray the best of you, rather than the genuine you. In a world where people post a lot online, they tend to post more positive, brag-worthy traits than faults so they are seen in a good light.

Thinking about social sharing habits, this is for the most part true. Randi’s proposition is that we aim to change that, and I completely agree. If you look at my social media profiles, I confess that I post pretty positively, and definitely “brag-worthy” items, but I interpret the message in a different way.

Public or private, posts and messages of gratitude, congratulations, birthday wishes and checking in on friends are normal online, via Facebook, Twitter, instant messaging, etc. So why do we feel awkward wishing someone Happy Birthday around the office, when clearly we know it’s the case? Why do we hesitate to ask someone how they are doing, what’s going on or how they’re feeling sometimes, when we might speculate something is up? The best of you strives to do this, and might hold back from doing this online (or in-person) because of judgment or even feeling creepy. If it’s genuine, don’t avoid it – go for it. Flipping the situation to its opposite, if the real you would say it in-person, what restricts you from saying it online? We shouldn’t be afraid of these things, especially in a private message. 

Another social sharing habit is to rant or complain. Although our motivations differ for what we post online, that’s another realistic part of everyday conversation. So why do we roll our eyes at it online? When we think of the real you being the best of you, the best of you knows not to use tons of profanities to describe a situation. The best of you knows your friends might not want to hear every nuisance or minor detail, especially depending on relevance. So make that the real you, and if you’re going to complain online, keep it to the point.

I have a philosophy that once you can share a piece of news or an article (i.e. a research study, interesting fact or blog post) with someone, they are a true companion. We discuss current events in person, so I aim to bring “real me” to life online and don’t hesitate to share articles on Twitter or on my friends’ Facebook walls/“timelines.”

Next time you are posting on one of your social media profiles, think about your motivations. Is it the real you sharing the news, or are you hoping that someone will like or comment on it? Are you hoping to see a complaint gratified by others that feel the same way? Or, are you leveraging social media as an outlet to share since the people you want to see it are far away? Whatever it may be, consider the words from the beginning passage a springboard to your posting future – keeping your best judgment and real words aligned.

Social media anxiety

Confessions:

• I get upset when I log into Facebook and have no notifications.
• It’s really exciting to see the number of hearts appear when you open up Instagram after posting a photo.
• The Twitter ringtone is gratifying, because it means someone RT’d you or favorited the tweet.
• My heart beats nervously when I see a message has been “seen” but not responded to.
• I intentionally post photos at social media-heavy times.
• And I don’t check my Klout score often, but when I do, I expect it to be 60 or higher.

I like to think these are normal habits for a tech-savvy, 20-something Millennial. Whether they are or aren’t, they are truths and not entirely out-there for someone in my generation.

As 2014 kicked off, I am trying to determine WHY this gratification is necessary. What is so great about it? What void is it filling? What do people in previous generations use to fill it? How can the need for this feeling be eliminated?

A very general solution to this is not letting these accounts dictate your life. Not checking them enough to let it disappoint you. Much easier said than done…but the ugly truth. The only way we can move forward from the frequency, power and halo they already have is continuing meaningful conversation with our voices—whether that be in person, on the phone or on video chat.

Your friends and family should appreciate what you do, so why does it matter if your sorority sister, ex-fling or 4^th grade teacher likes a status or photo of your travels? If your friends or significant other won’t listen to these things, find new ones; they should care. Is social anxiety and gratification replacing verbal acknowledgment, empathy and excitement for others? We don’t want society to move this way.

There is nothing more gratifying than productive, meaningful conversation. In a recent Reader’s Digest issue, senior editor of the Oxford English Dictionary Fiona McPherson calls out the term “nocializing”—being preoccupied with a mobile device while in company. We all know it; we’ve all done it – but let’s not make this the norm. So in the meantime, I’m going to continue to use my phone for what it was meant for—calling people—and maybe I won’t get as much social anxiety.

Observations from Boston

On the way out to my client’s Connecticut headquarters, I was lucky to spend the weekend in Boston with my friend Lauren, who moved out there for grad school after graduating from Mizzou. I had been to Boston in 2008 and 2010, but this was my first visit as a 21+ year-old and more frequently-traveled adult who can observe normal things. In fact, this blog is even old enough to recount my 2010 trip here.

Well, with a different lens – here’s what I observed about Boston in two days:

1. So many neighborhoods in such a short distance.

Copley Square and Back Bay, Fenway, Brookline and Coolidge Corner…what’s the difference? Where does one start and another end? The T train makes everything seem very far away with so many lines and stops, but everything in the city seems to be within a few miles.

Lauren and I at brunch at the Met Back Bay. Yes, that is nutella-stuffed, salted caramel banana french toast.

2. Expensive cost of living.

Lauren’s boyfriend told me that there are studies reporting Boston being one of the most expensive places to live in America, with young adults and families spending upwards of 50 percent of monthly income on housing. With such a strong college presence (Harvard, MIT, BU, BC, Emerson, the list goes on), students and their frequent moves drive up housing costs.

3. Building uniformity and boutique shopping, everywhere.

Lauren lives blocks away from the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Commonwealth Avenue – right off of Newbury Street. The neighborhood appeared in my head as a combination of Hell's Kitchen in New York and Old Town in Chicago. There was no shortage of stores, boutiques or brick buildings in this area of downtown.

Walking down Newbury Street

4. A blend between the suburbs and the city.

What surprised me about Boston was how quickly you cut from the city into suburban territory. In just a few minutes from downtown, we were in Alston at a popular bar chain called Tavern in the Square. And the suburban bars have lives, similar to Westport in Kansas City, they’re not lame. Harvard Square felt like a strong mixture of the suburbs & city life, very similar to Evanston. It was cool and comforting to see this type of integration as a 20-something.

5. Dunkin Donuts, everywhere.

Seriously. I know Chicago and New York have a lot, but Dunkin Donuts dominates Boston.

6. The seaport and industrial area by the ocean.

We went out this way to visit Harpoon Brewery, and learned that this part of town is growing quickly. Granted, it’s not cheap to be on the coast, but was full of construction, new buildings and great restaurants. In addition, Harpoon Brewery’s raspberry UFO (unfiltered offering) brew is my new favorite beer.

Lauren and I on a bridge by Boston's World Trade Center in the industrial area

Beer flights and pretzels at Harpoon Brewery

7. The Massachusetts Avenue Bridge.

Crossing the bridge on Massachusetts Avenue from Cambridge into Boston was gorgeous and unreal. MIT is lucky to be right there on the Cambridge side, and besides being at that level of intelligence, I wish I could be on their campus purely because of the location. If I had more time, I would have taken a panoramic shot, but I am never going to forget driving across the bridge at night and drowning in the view. The water, the skyline, the perfect sky…what a beautiful place.

This photo doesn't do it justice- but my iPhone attempt at capturing the bridge.