What does The Greatest Generation think of the App Generation?
Upon
surveying her friends, my very wise 80-year-old mom explained that when it
comes to social media and cell phones, there is a wide range of understanding,
but almost a unanimous opinion…they are concerned.
We may giggle
along with eSurance’s commercial where to save time, Grandma Beatrice literally
posts her vacation photos “on her wall.”
But there is some brilliant truth, and several layers of insight, when
her friend declares, “That’s not how it works.
That’s not how any of this works!”
How does
it all work? Or, is the better question,
“Is it all working?” When it comes to parenting and texting, my
mother is especially concerned.
“Why do
Amanda and Jake need to text you from school with every little thing? How are they suppose to make any of their own
decisions when they are wirelessly tethered to you?”
We all
grew up in the age of corded phones, telephone booths, busy signals and collect
calls. If we needed our parents, we
could connect, but it took some effort and we often had to wait it out. But, now our text-messaging enabled smartphones
offer instant gratification. And,
knowing that our teens have a phone, literally in their back pockets,
alleviates anxiety for both parents and kids.
No doubt,
we are living through a sociolinguistic transformation brought on by the
ubiquitous Internet. Not just a media culture shift (radio, TV, computer,
Smartphone), but also a communications culture shift where the majority of us
are texting junkies, and use hash tags and smiley faces to communicate. With
our digital natives as the experts at putting all of these new communications
tools into practice, we are, fortunately or unfortunately, compelled to follow.
