Well, one of the things I've wondered about myself has been "will we develop new abilities to filter out useless information"? We've already had that ability to some degree all along. We ignore the sound the wind makes until it reaches a certain pitch. Rain pattering on a window becomes simple background noise until it starts to clatter as it turns to sleet. Mothers develop "selective hearing" around their children's insistent voices until they recognize that something is out of the ordinary about it and their attention is needed. The daily newspaper you grab at the coffee shop or restaurant is selectively read. TV commercials are selectively watched. But I think that going "mobile" with absolutely everything has turned up the dial on information and entertainment and relationship stimuli in a huge way. Social media is at a different level of intensity (because by definition there are real people involved), and to some extent ALL media is quickly becoming social.
As we become more and more aware through the new media of people, cultures, and lifestyles very different than ours, what this is doing to us is giving us many, many more "options" than previous generations had. We are no longer limited to options only in the modest geography near where we grew up, or with people of the demographic who look and sound and believe like us. We can, virtually, go anywhere and do or be anything. Only 3 generations ago, your adult friends were your childhood friends, going to college was the rare exception, and being in a trade different from that of an adult relative was actually treated with suspicion. You got your news via newsprint or by word of mouth (including the voice on the radio). Options? What options?
A book I have started reading, called Guyland, chronicles the emergence of a new "stage of life", which is sort of Adolescence 2.0 - the part that runs roughly 10 years from the time you can drive a car unrestricted until you finish "growing up" (which, to the author, means in essence taking responsibility for your decisions, dealing with the results, and establishing a trajectory for your life).
Personally I think that this new phenomenon is a direct result of too many options than we currently have the capacity to process. It's especially difficult for those in their late teens and early twenties, because the pre-frontal cortex is still growing (until about 22 for girls and 26 for boys, or so MRI research tells us), and that's the part of the brain where value judgments are made, right/wrong is decided, and risk/reward is measured. If you lack the full ability to choose wisely, and are faced with innumerable options for your life, and stimuli demanding your attention... it can be paralyzing. Some people can simply freeze in place and do nothing. Like deer in the headlights.
So if you can't decide what to do with your life... maybe you just continue the behaviors that got you to where you are, socially and recreationally, and just mark time until you can process the options that confront you. You work a dead-end job, live at home with Mom, party with your school friends, just sort of drift. The good news is, for most people, you "un-freeze" at some point, and pick a direction (or it picks you). Only a few are run over by life while frozen.
I remember drifting from one unfulfilling job to another from ages 19 to 27, until I quit, sold the house, went back to finish my Bachelor's, adopted a daughter, and picked a vocation that I've stayed in ever since. This was even pre-internet, and it still took me until 27 to lock in. Except... while I drifted, I also bought insurance, tithed to my church, and made mortgage payments. I lived like a responsible adult while still being directionless (just not admitting it to many people).
Today, being directionless is much more socially acceptable. Authors like Michael Kimmel are giving it a name, and a space to live in. :)
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