Generation Interrupted

New ideas have always created pain for certain people, for others, opportunities and advantages. Generational changes don’t equalize the pain. Younger people tend to be more adaptable and catch on to technological advances more readily than their elders. It has always been so and in the future the rapidity of change involved with electronic communication and data manipulation will only enhance this process. The newer generation will easily grasp onto the new electronic environments, while the older generation will slowly lose touch with the new and updated technology.

Historically, each generation is at ease with the technologies and ideas it grows up with. Older generations used different forms of communication to contact or inform people. It was either face to face, personal communication or written documents such as notes, diaries, or letters. Communication in the ancient days was often used through “word of mouth.” Then as years passed, educated people became familiar with the written word. Famous poets and authors, such as Shakespeare, were extremely talented with writing. People in this era had a great amount of time to focus on their writings and poetry. This allowed them to express their literacy. This written form became engrained in their culture and resided with them for the rest of their lives. None of these forms had to do with electronics. The only long distance communication was via letters. Data collection also had to be communicated through word or face to face.

The first step to electronic technology for the last generation came about in several forms. New technology was provided with new electronic advancements to improve their ways of communication worldwide. New advancements would include telephones, broadcasting by television and radio, and data manipulation using mainframe computers. These improvements were applicable to the needs of ordinary citizens. They were capable of learning to use them and became adept. These electronic devices fit their needs and became part of their lives. New advancements were to some degree interactive and made long distance communication speedier and more efficient. Data storage became simple and immediate. This happy balance was not to last forever. Technology never stands still but people’s ability to cope sometimes does.

Now comes along the new and improved updated technology that provides a vast amount of opportunities but also problems. The introduction of advanced computers had been internationally well known and they can be easily used at ones fingertips. The last generations have the ability to understand another easier and useful way to communicate and manipulate information. Cellular phones have now entered the global network and are advancing every minute. Cellular phones provide a sense of security, friendship, and communication. But new is not always better for everyone. People familiar with the use of the old technology now struggle with the new features available. To a large extent, the last generation was unable to keep pace with new and updated trends. According to online Journal, “What happens in an emergency when a grandmother can’t call her doctor because her new cell phone has twenty different features and she keeps taking photos of her feet?”(http://barrientes.wordpress.com/2007/11/02/how-is-global-technology-affecting-the-generation-gap/). This woman could also have difficulty programming her DVD player and finds TIVO more occult than witchcraft. This generation can learn these new advancements but it will never be at ease with them. Keeping track of information has also become more exotic. Advances in technology such as data organizers, palm pilots, and laptops provide great benefits but can be very complicated. With the press of a button an old timer can send a vast amount of information into cyberspace irretrievably. Just as quickly one can send out personal data to the whole world or receive pictures or videos inappropriate to one’s eyes and ears. Using this new technology becomes a daily battle and it doesn’t become part those earlier users.

Updated technology is creating more and more advantages and disadvantages unconsciously. This technology creates a large breach between parents and their children. One specific problem that has such a significant impact deals with communication skills. According to this online journal, the younger generation called the “net generation” because it is has never known a world without internet communication, is familiar with interrelating to people through cell phones, text messaging, and e-mail(http://barrientes.wordpress.com/2007/11/02/how-is-global-technology-affecting-the-generation-gap/). The problem the new development of technology for the younger generation is that they no longer have the ability to socialize with people. This “net generation” removes all of the personal communication due to the technology. The younger generation looks at texting and emailing as a short cut or easier way of communicating rather than having a one on one conversation. Sometimes, technology is just an excuse for them to get out of any less than pleasing situation. Before this outbreak of technology, people used to communicate either by going out on dates, talking in person, or doing activities. Nowadays, people break up while texting and their phone encompasses their whole life. Rather talking in person, the younger generation consumes all their time on their cell phones. Texting has also been a key factor in abbreviating words and slacking on their language skills. A good example of this situation would be, “a mother questions a daughter about her excessive text message usage and is replied back [sic] with letters and incomplete words that is somehow supposed to replace an actual conversation” (http://barrientes.wordpress.com/2007/11/02/how-is-global-technology-affecting-the-generation-gap/). Their parents grew up using one form of communication while their offspring blithely exploit their own abbreviated form widening the generation gap with their own communication gap.

If this wasn’t bad enough, the future looks even bleaker for the old generation. Developments in electronic writing and dispersion of information are occurring at an ever faster pace. Electronic writing has become a new level of personal communication, from posting blogs online to publishing online articles. Communication had broadened its areas throughout the technology. A major source of communication can be through emails. Emails are our main source of contact with our everyday lives. Every generation is exposed and utilizes this technical advantage; but to the older generation it is hard work and perhaps even unpleasant. To the younger generation, it becomes second nature. The pace of this advancement will only quicken in the future. Those who are barely literate with current technologies will find it difficult, if not impossible, to deal with this advancement. At a certain point, it becomes like the law of diminishing returns. More bells and whistles only mean more to learn, more mistakes, and more unease. In the end they would get better feedback flying a note across the room in the form of a paper airplane.

Technology changes the possibility of everything. It’s often hard to see its advancement and when it occurs, not everyone can admit it. Those who are born into the newer generation take technology for granted and do realize the beneficial impact these new advancements have on other lives. Technology changes the world for the newer generation in a positive manner, while the older generation looks at this change askance. The older generation thinks of this new technical environment as a weird machine and that should not exist. The newer generation can easily cope with this change. They see it as a means of exciting and fulfilling ways of communicating. An example of this would be taking your laptop to the beach or somewhere relaxing and having the ability to enter into your own world and exclude everything around you. Being able to understand technology is one thing, but being able to communicate and relate with it is another. Technology has built a complete cultural paradigm for the newer generation.

Now this new advancement is acknowledged and appreciated by the new generation. Day by day, new technical improvements, such as iPhones, are exposed to the world. Meanwhile, the younger generation grasps on to it trouble-free. For example, when a new phone or laptop comes out, every young adult or teenager is striving to have the newest and most improved technology. They want the fastest technology with the latest features available. I know when a new iPod or song on iTunes comes out, I want it badly. Therefore, I go out and get it. But then, when an older person is used to their old generation technology, they cannot cope with this new environment. The newer generation thinks of their environment as natural. The older generation is left out of the picture. Technology thrives off the desire of the people for “new and improved”.

The future of the new generation will grow rapidly. Year by year thousands of new devices are invented. They have the great advantage of making things easier for users. The older generation will slowly fall into a shadow of ignorance. Where could this lead the two different generations? Either the new generation will skyrocket and create new ideas or the old generation will continue to slack off educating themselves about the technology. I believe that the newer generation has something great to look forward to. The newer generation is on top of every updated technology. While on the other hand, the old generation will not be able to deal with this advancement. The old generation will be flummoxed with this change and will be incapable of coping with it.

There are vast differences between the older generation and their technology and the newer generation with its futuristic equipment. They both involve different backgrounds and they were both brought up in different environments. Someone in the older generation probably could not understand a single technical word of our current language. LOL and IDK would be as meaningless to the fogies as hieroglyphics. It is the same as if a person specializing in today’s technology tried to explain its facility to a caveman. Between these two generations, there will be an ever-growing gulf. The old generation will eventually find itself unable to communicate and even feel a part of the society.