The Generation Gap of THIS Century

I read an article the other day that I just had to share.  A little toddler picked up a book and said "Daddy's book!"  How cute, you may think. Except the item in that toddler's hand was a Kindle, an e-book, not a book at all, in the traditional sense.  

It was at that moment that I realized that each generation will have their own little generation gap to deal with and it all will come down to the technology their generation was exposed to when they were growing up.  It used to be all about the music.  It still is, but now we all need to add onto that a layer of technology.

Each generation's worldview will be shaped by the technology available to them.  And the technology the little ones -- and I mean kids 0 - 5 -- will be exposed to will be vastly different from the technology that kids 5-10 and even more distant from the innovations that older kids grew up with. Technology changes so very fast, that even a few years can mean a huge difference in the way kids interact with and view their world.

"People two, three or four years apart are having completely different experiences with technology," said Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Research Center's Internet and American Life Project. "College students scratch their heads at what their high school siblings are doing, and they scratch their heads at their younger siblings. It has sped up generational differences."

One interesting result to the advancements in technology is that the little kids who grow up with iPod touches will probably approach a laptop and expect to swipe their fingers across the screen in order to make things happen!

The little generation gaps become most apparent when you look at the entertainment choices our kids are making. 

According to a survey last year by Pew, teenagers are more likely to send instant messages than slightly older 20-somethings (68 percent versus 59 percent) and to play online games (78 percent versus 50 percent).

Larry Rosen, a professor of psychology at California State University, Dominguez Hills, and the author of the coming "Rewired: Understanding the iGeneration and the Way They Learn," has also drawn this distinction between what he calls the Net Generation, born in the 1980s, and the iGeneration, born in the '90s and this decade.

Now in their 20s, those in the Net Generation, according to Dr. Rosen, spend two hours a day talking on the phone and still use e-mail frequently. The iGeneration - conceivably their younger siblings - spends considerably more time texting than talking on the phone, pays less attention to television than the older group and tends to communicate more over instant-messenger networks.

Dr. Rosen said that the newest generations, unlike their older peers, will expect an instant response from everyone they communicate with, and won't have the patience for anything less.

How does this affect how you parent?  A LOT!  First of all, our little ones will expect everything even more instantly that their older siblings because that is the environment they grew up with.  And kids who play on sites like Club Penguin and the like will probably see less a distinction between real life and their virtual life.  As they grow up, their social networking is likely to be as satisfying as going out to a Friday night party, says Mizuko Ito, a cultural anthropologist and associate researcher at the University of California Humanities Research Institute.  And they probably will participate more actively with their enteratainment, rather than becoming a couch potato.  This might make them more creative than previous generations.

Another generation gap, which I know I am seeing in my own home is our kids are able to multi-task as never before. Studies performed by Dr. Rosen at Cal State show that 16- to 18-year-olds perform seven tasks, on average, in their free time - like texting on the phone, sending instant messages and checking Facebook while sitting in front of the television.

People in their early 20s can handle only six, Dr. Rosen found, and those in their 30s perform about five and a half.

And the most chilling by product of all this technology -- at least to me -- is the ability of devices to be geo-centric, meaning that all devices will have the ability to locate us by our geographic coordinates.  Our kids, who will be growing up with this capability, will, no doubt, have a much more relaxed sense of privacy.  They might think it's cool to be able to know which of their friends are nearby or to be able to drive by something and point their phone at a person, whose name they can't remember, snap a photo and instantly find out who the person is.  To me, that sounds little too big brother.  But then again, I am part of the "older" generation.  Or at least, that's the way I'm categorized because I didn't grow up with all this stuff.  It came on the scene for me, once I graduated college.  I am, what is known as a digital immigrant as opposed to a digital native -- something all our kids are.

Our kids, who are busy passing through this revolution, will think nothing of exposing everything about themselves online.  For us, we have to "unlearn" this way of operation.  Some of us will do this and many of us won't.  

For those who are uncomfortable with this new world, at least take the time to learn about the world your kids are growing in to.  Become comfortable with the world of social networking -- even if you never post anything.  I just read a blog written by an 84 year old woman.  She is blogging to stay in touch with the younger generation and to reduce her sense of isolation.  And you know what?  She has about 100 people reading her blog!  Social networking really is for everyone.  The more you can participate in the world community -- online -- the more you will lessen the generation gap in your own home.

How many of you are willing to stick your big toe in the waters?