Current generations make extensive use of new technologies such as mobile phones, PCs, the internet and its associated tools, playstations, etc. These technologies were absent when the parents of these generations were growing up. Although a lot of parents try to adapt and provide those technologies for their kids, there seems to be a widening generational divide. The question that naturally emerges from this observation is: is technology responsible for that divide? Or are there other factors?
Parents have for many generations- to a certain extent - transmitted a legacy of thought and passion to their children, but a significant number seem to be failing at sustaining that transmission. So what are your precious views? Have you noticed that with your kids or those of your close relatives? Is this point perhaps exaggerated?
I agree with Kamal that, depending on the level of the literacy in the country, the older generation adapted with the new technology.
Generation gaps have always existed though they tend to be wilder from culture to culture. It is my observation that the gaps tend to be wilder in countries with a higher degree of freedom where youth are free to form their views and set their values. While in closed societies parents try very hard to produce copies of themselves the result is almost no gap but no change at all, most importantly no progress and no innovation. Based on that I believe that a gap is needed it is a sign of renewal of society. Having said that I agree with Dr. Kamal the effect of the use of new technology varies in the same society from one group to the other depending on education, wealth, and many other factors.
I think the gap between generations for many people has widened, in particular for retired people. As they do not come to work and stay at home most time, they have much less exposure to and leed need of newer technologies. However, they make up a large proportion of population and are socially influential.
As an educator, I think we need to prepare learners to be LIFE-LONG learners by developing their skills (" teach them how to fish"). This, I think, would lead to a smoother adaptation and a narrower gap.
I believe that things happen today in a way much faster than in the past. And we have to adapt.
I do not believe there is a liability, but there is such an obligation to adapt quickly.
May seem out of the question, but a book I read and it seems to characterize in a very complete way these our times, even having been written in 1974, is "Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance".
http://www.amazon.com/Zen-Art-Motorcycle-Maintenance-Inquiry/dp/0060589469
Every generation has had to work with the technology at hand, and it is the older generation that creates new forms of technology. When new technology emerges, children appear to adopt it more naturally because it is already in their environment during the developmental years, whereas their parents (& grandparents) must adapt to the shifts. On this basis, technology is just one part of the culture that is transmitted from one generation to another, and has been part of our world since the invention of the alphabet. How we model & teach our children to use the tools of any given society is the heart of inter-generational social/cultural transmission of knowledge.
Dear Michaela,
Thank you so mch for your crystal clear point of view.
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