Generativity

History

In 1950 Erik Erikson created the term generativity to explain the Care stage in his theory of the stages of psychosocial development. The Care stage encompasses the middle ages of one’s life, from 40 through 64. Generativity was defined as the “ability to transcend personal interests to provide care and concern for younger and older generations.” It took over 30 years for generativity to become a subject of empirical research. Modern psychoanalysts, starting in the early 1990s, have included a concern for one’s legacy, referred to as an “inner desire for immortality”, in the definition of generativity.

More recently, the term has been adopted by people who deal with technology, first used by Johnathan Zittrain in 2006. Generativity in technology is defined as “the ability of a technology platform or technology ecosystem to create, generate or produce new output, structure or behavior without input from the originator of the system.” An example of this could be the iOS and Android mobile operating systems, for which developers have created millions of unique applications. It has been argued that the open Internet is both an inspiration of generativity and a means to spread the products of generativity. However, some people including Johnathan Zittrain fear that society and technology are moving away from a generative internet, claiming “A shift in consumer priorities from generativity to stability will compel undesirable responses from regulators and markets and, if unaddressed, could prove decisive in closing today’s open computing environments.”

Use in Psychology

Generativity in a psychological lens is the concern for people besides self and family that usually develops during middle age; a need to nurture and guide younger people and contribute to the next generation— as used in the psychology of Erik Erikson. According to Erikson's stages of psychosocial development, the human life cycle evolves through eight sequential stages from infancy to late adulthood, of which generativity is a part of the seventh stage. However, after having experienced old age himself, Erikson believed that generativity has a more important role to play in later life than he initially thought.

Erik Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development is an eight-stage theory that describes how personality develops and the conflict inherent in each stage of life. Successful navigation of each developmental conflict results in a sense of competence and a healthy personality. Failure to master these tasks leads to feelings of inadequacy. In stage 7 of Erikson’s theory, we reach Generativity vs. Stagnation, which spans ages 40 through 64. During this stage, middle-aged adults begin contributing to the next generation through caring for others; they also engage in meaningful and productive work which contributes positively to society. Generativity involves finding your life’s work and contributing to the development of others through activities such as volunteering, mentoring, and raising children. It has also been described as a concern for one's legacy, often expressed in the form of spending more time with family and an increase in philanthropic pursuits. Generative concern leads to concrete goals and actions such as "providing a narrative schematic of the generative self to the next generation".

Use in Technology

Generativity in technology refers to technological innovations that make difficult jobs easier. It takes less effort and can be contributed from various audiences. The technology’s ease reflects how its audience can interact and adopt it. Similarly, the more accessible the technology is, the more generative it is. In a psycho-technological lens, generativity and technological generativity’s continuity also applies on how others create software or provide ease of advanced technology to impoverished areas or countries that don’t proper access to a particular resource.

Applications in Software

Generative software essentially provides a platform that others can use and manipulate to create new products. Jonathan Zittrain was the first to use generativity in reference to software. He described generative software as software that encourages "unanticipated change through unfiltered contributions from broad and varied audiences." Zittranin has also claimed that generative software is in decline as consumers seek security and stability, which may be absent in a generative environment. He believes that consumers moving to one way applications such as DVR, GPS, and smart app;iances wil lead to a decline in generative software and internet.

Facebook’s “Facebook Lite” is aimed at developing nations in parts of Asia, Africa, South America and Europe and only uses 1 MB of storage compared to the standard app, which uses 25. In addition, companies such as Google and Facebook are creating drones and balloons that provides internet to areas that don’t have access to basic internet from the sky. The concept of creating something for the better of society and providing the next generation with advancements derives from the psychological definition, but is applied with technological advancements shared to underprivileged areas.

Applications in Internet

The internet itself is a generative force. Information sharing and social media have allowed thousands of people to pursue private or collaborative interests and ventures.

Nearly 60% of the world (around 4.4 billion people) lack basic internet access. Companies such as Facebook and Google are creating software and devices that provide easier access to the internet. Facebook’s “Facebook Lite” is a less strenuous version of Facebook that provides majority of its features onto a simpler application. It takes only 1 MB compared to the 25 it takes on the standard application, making it easier to run in areas that don’t have strong internet connection or devices to run the standard Facebook application. This also allows for users to connect with the world, their friends and family without having an app that demands a lot of internet strength/speed, battery and or other resources.

Facebook has also created their own drone - Aquila, to help tackle this issue. It has accomplished its first successful flight on June 28, 2016 in Arizona. The goal of the project is to create a fleet of Aquilas and fly them over sub-Saharan Africa along with other regions that don’t currently have internet access. In addition, Google also has the same goals of providing internet to remote areas of the world that don’t have access to the internet with their Project Loon . Project Loon is a fleet of massive balloons floating miles above the Earth surface. The balloons will have radio transmitters and will connect with new or existing telecommunication networks below. Through these and other technologies corporations and governments hope to extend internet access to everyone, allowing them to benefit from and and add to the generative aspects of the internet.