Ishmael and Youth Online

I've been doing a lot of research on youth being online and the effects it has been having on them. Don Tapscott's book, Grown Up Digital: How the Net Generation is Changing Your World really helped further my investigation. Now I am trying to relate this back to the story of Moby Dick.

I want to focus on Ishmael paralleling with a member of the net generation, seeking for something beyond what has been traditional and mundane. "I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world. It is a way I have of driving off the spleen, and regulating the circulation. Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral of every funeral I meet… then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can" (Melville).

As I reviewed this passage where Ishmael continues to express his desire to leave home and head for sea, I was reminded of a passage in Tapscott's book, Grown Up Digital. In the third chapter of the book, Tapscott dissects eight characteristics of a standard net generation brain. The very first characteristic he lists: freedom. "Our research suggests that they expect to choose where and when they work; they use technology to escape traditional office space and hours; and they integrate their home and social lives with work life. More than half of the Net Geners we surveyed online in North America say they want to be able to work in places other than an office" (Tapscott).

Ishmael and a Net Gener have a yearning for something bigger than they are.

Another characteristic of a Net Gener is scrutiny. "The Net Generation knows to be skeptical whenever they're online" (Tapscott). Ishmael is a great representative of scrutiny. Starting at the beginning of his adventures, we see how Ishmael scrutinizes everything he comes across. While he is in the Spouter Inn, he must take in and study every object he finds in his room, "Folding back the counterpane, I stooped over the bed. Though none of the most elegant, it yet stood the scrutiny tolerably well" (Melville). Beyond objects, Ishmael scrutinizes people, such as Queequeg.

These are just two of many characteristics that both a Net Gener and Ishmael share. By the end of the novel, Ishmael manages to be the sole survivor of the Pequod ship. He observed closely throughout his voyage and he gained more wisdom than he already had. I once wrote a blog discussing if it is a positive or negative thing to allow youth to be online. I didn't have a firm stance then, and while there are still some necessary precautions, I think Ishmael represents why it is good to learn and be online at an early age. You gain so much wisdom through a click of the button. There are dangers, but you learn to avoid them and handle them.