I had a long conversation with my father over the holidays. My mom and fiancee escaped to the other room as it sounded more like a squabble over computer issues. But, it wasn’t. It was just two men trying to make sure each other was understood or simply heard. It was really a discussion about the differences of our generations.
I’ve thought a lot about that conversation as the new decade begins and believe dad and I fall into two, distinct, generational directions or trends. Directions I don’t see easily turning around.
I call the first generational direction
Transformation (or a change into something improved or useful). I’ll call the other direction
Irritation (or impatient and exasperation).
Transformation happens. Growth happens. Change happens. Our technical infrastructure is simply massive today and getting bigger (and smaller). Take, for example, my phone. Cell phones that take videos/pictures, surf the internet, send text messages, calendar items, retrieve/send email, calculate, look up words, record grocery lists, store music, and play games are common place. The newest Generation Z kids (born from the mid 1990s to mid 2000s) fluently work technology without even needing a lesson (though they barely remember 911 or comprehend the historical perspective). They are now about to graduate high school and enter the work force. And I have to say, they understand the concepts of Transformation. And you know what? They embrace change because that is all they know. GenY and GenX (me) get it, too, although in distinctly different ways.
The alternative direction is
Irritation. Frustration happens, too. It is only human to believe we’ll live and dream forever and that we can accomplish everything we want if we just work hard at it. However, as the Baby Boomers get older I fear the reality is they can’t keep up. Today’s tech world moves too fast. And whining about it doesn’t help because nobody can slow it down (though virus designers do try). To make matters worse, the Gen X, Y, and Zers blink unknowingly as teachers. There is no text book or manual anymore. If you have a question, there exists only a quick link to a help menu or a phone call to person in India (speaking of irritation). The best answer you can get from a GenXYZer is to just “figure it out”. That is what we do.
I guess the best answer to my dad is to draw an analogy. If one truly wants to learn a language, get into a total immersion program. If one wants to learn Spanish, go live in Spain.
Generationally speaking, we are all shaped by the events, leaders, developments and trends of our time. The GenXers like me, dubbed in part as the internet generation, are fairly comfortable with change and are naturally going to align ourselves with Transformation. The GenYers, having started the Facebook, MySpace, blogs, and instant communication technologies love “the next new thing”. So, they are going to chose Transformation. And these GenZ kids are simply amazing to watch “go”.
The Baby Boomers do have a choice. And being irritated about the ongoing transformations won't get you credit for doing both.
