Babies Who Can Swipe
©2018 Kari Carlisle
Born at the tail end of the “Baby Boomer” era, I share many traits ascribed to both Baby Boomers and Generation X. It’s always interesting to attend training/conference sessions on generational differences and see where I’m supposed to fit in.
As someone educated in the field of anthropology, I see these generational differences as vast generalizations that attempt to define cultural change as it’s happening. It’s like reading your horoscope – they are general enough to convince you that it fits you perfectly. If you took 12 horoscope readings, removed the astrological signs, mixed them up, and randomly gave them to your friends, I doubt one would be able to say it was not their horoscope. You can do something similar with generational characteristics if you remove references to specific dates.
This week, I attended a conference session that discussed generational differences and learned they are now lumping everyone over 50 in one generation. Everyone younger than 50 is being split into several distinct generations – Gen X, Y, Z, and Zero. The age range of the newer generations is getting narrower.
The whole exercise is really just hogwash (that’s Baby Boomer lingo for inaccurate). I don’t deny that there are generational differences. What I deny is that you can fit someone of a certain age in a tidy, little box. Generational characteristics are less a function of age than opportunity.
Language, for example, changes over time and tends to be regional and/or a function of societal influence through popular culture. While a young person might not know what I mean by hogwash, and while I might have to concentrate to remember what yolo means (which I only just learned this week), these are normal changes in language over time. Some changes will spread and stick, and others will die away as temporary and/or regional slang. I can see the term “woke” being adopted into everyday language, but I suspect “damn Gina” may fade. It’s hard to say, but time will tell. As an experiment, have a screening of episodes of Perry Mason and then Seinfeld for friends/family from 2-3 different generations, and talk about how language from popular culture of the past (not just terms, but how people communicate) has been retained or lost.
One of the things that is driving cultural change today is the technological revolution we are experiencing. We now have a generation of newborns being raised with digital devices. While I still don’t know everything my phone can do and have never SnapChatted (not yet, anyway), now we have babies who can swipe before they walk or say their first word.
It may be amusing for those of my generation to see videos of young children responding to the music of our youth, rotary phones, and rabbit ears. But I’m downright alarmed by videos showing babies trying to swipe and enlarge printed pages because they don’t know the difference between a device and a book.
At first, I thought my alarm had to do with my picturing kids growing up and never knowing the joy of reading a physical book, but this trend is more complex than we can know now. To narrowly define the newest generation as connected and unable to disconnect is a gross stereotype. Yes, there are children who are being raised to use digital devices to get information and communicate with others, but there are socioeconomic and cultural factors to consider. Generational generalizations only apply to a cross-section of society. My age, gender, race, region, education, and other subtle differences all contribute to my personal characteristics. Whether I’m considered a Baby Boomer or Gen X is ultimately a meaningless exercise, and we’ll find the same definitions will be equally meaningless in defining the younger generations. I sincerely hope parents continue to instill the value of nature, history, art, and culture in their children.
The question boils down to why are we trying to fit each generation into a box? What can we learn from this exercise? The value of understanding anyone’s perspective, whether that perspective is affected by age or any other factor, is in being able to communicate effectively. Language, values, and technology are all part of communication. While training on generational differences is usually geared toward older people trying to understand today’s youth, it’s really everyone’s responsibility to bridge the gaps between us. The overwhelming danger of placing people into age-defined boxes is that it leads to assumptions and stereotypes.
We are going through rapid social and cultural changes. But those changes impact everyone, not just our youth. Take the generational differences definitions with a grain of salt. See people as people, and realize that we are complex beings, affected by many factors, not just the era in which we are raised. Seek to understand, ask clarifying questions, and don’t judge. These are the first steps toward effective communication and meaningful relationships.
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To comment, scroll down and type in your comment. Under Comment As, you can select Anonymous or Name/URL (you don't need to enter a URL). Then hit Publish.
Born at the tail end of the “Baby Boomer” era, I share many traits ascribed to both Baby Boomers and Generation X. It’s always interesting to attend training/conference sessions on generational differences and see where I’m supposed to fit in.
As someone educated in the field of anthropology, I see these generational differences as vast generalizations that attempt to define cultural change as it’s happening. It’s like reading your horoscope – they are general enough to convince you that it fits you perfectly. If you took 12 horoscope readings, removed the astrological signs, mixed them up, and randomly gave them to your friends, I doubt one would be able to say it was not their horoscope. You can do something similar with generational characteristics if you remove references to specific dates.
This week, I attended a conference session that discussed generational differences and learned they are now lumping everyone over 50 in one generation. Everyone younger than 50 is being split into several distinct generations – Gen X, Y, Z, and Zero. The age range of the newer generations is getting narrower.
The whole exercise is really just hogwash (that’s Baby Boomer lingo for inaccurate). I don’t deny that there are generational differences. What I deny is that you can fit someone of a certain age in a tidy, little box. Generational characteristics are less a function of age than opportunity.
Language, for example, changes over time and tends to be regional and/or a function of societal influence through popular culture. While a young person might not know what I mean by hogwash, and while I might have to concentrate to remember what yolo means (which I only just learned this week), these are normal changes in language over time. Some changes will spread and stick, and others will die away as temporary and/or regional slang. I can see the term “woke” being adopted into everyday language, but I suspect “damn Gina” may fade. It’s hard to say, but time will tell. As an experiment, have a screening of episodes of Perry Mason and then Seinfeld for friends/family from 2-3 different generations, and talk about how language from popular culture of the past (not just terms, but how people communicate) has been retained or lost.
One of the things that is driving cultural change today is the technological revolution we are experiencing. We now have a generation of newborns being raised with digital devices. While I still don’t know everything my phone can do and have never SnapChatted (not yet, anyway), now we have babies who can swipe before they walk or say their first word.
It may be amusing for those of my generation to see videos of young children responding to the music of our youth, rotary phones, and rabbit ears. But I’m downright alarmed by videos showing babies trying to swipe and enlarge printed pages because they don’t know the difference between a device and a book.
At first, I thought my alarm had to do with my picturing kids growing up and never knowing the joy of reading a physical book, but this trend is more complex than we can know now. To narrowly define the newest generation as connected and unable to disconnect is a gross stereotype. Yes, there are children who are being raised to use digital devices to get information and communicate with others, but there are socioeconomic and cultural factors to consider. Generational generalizations only apply to a cross-section of society. My age, gender, race, region, education, and other subtle differences all contribute to my personal characteristics. Whether I’m considered a Baby Boomer or Gen X is ultimately a meaningless exercise, and we’ll find the same definitions will be equally meaningless in defining the younger generations. I sincerely hope parents continue to instill the value of nature, history, art, and culture in their children.
The question boils down to why are we trying to fit each generation into a box? What can we learn from this exercise? The value of understanding anyone’s perspective, whether that perspective is affected by age or any other factor, is in being able to communicate effectively. Language, values, and technology are all part of communication. While training on generational differences is usually geared toward older people trying to understand today’s youth, it’s really everyone’s responsibility to bridge the gaps between us. The overwhelming danger of placing people into age-defined boxes is that it leads to assumptions and stereotypes.
We are going through rapid social and cultural changes. But those changes impact everyone, not just our youth. Take the generational differences definitions with a grain of salt. See people as people, and realize that we are complex beings, affected by many factors, not just the era in which we are raised. Seek to understand, ask clarifying questions, and don’t judge. These are the first steps toward effective communication and meaningful relationships.
Click here to receive the Apocalypse Observer Newsletter in your inbox
www.readmota.com
To comment, scroll down and type in your comment. Under Comment As, you can select Anonymous or Name/URL (you don't need to enter a URL). Then hit Publish.
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