Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Web Secret #296: Generations

Family gathering are the perfect occasion for some light Gen Y versus Baby Boomer versus Greatest Generation banter.

Not sure how it happened but the conversation came around to the following question: "Is there a greater generation gap between the Gen Ys (born in the 80s and 90s) and the Boomers (born between 1946 and and 1964) or between the Boomers and the Greatest Generation (who came of age during World War II)?" I didn't say anything immediately but smugly thought, "Well of course there is more of a gap between myself and my 90 year old mother, than between myself and my Millenial children. After all I am so tech savvy and..."

This smug thought was instantly interrupted by a unanimous chorus of my children, nieces and nephews (age range 19 to 27) yelling "of course it's between us and our parents."

My older daughter (age 24) told me "Mom, I almost have forgotten what it was like not to have a computer, we grew up with the Internet, your generation didn't. You're more like Granny than like us."

Hold on! My mother grew up without TV. And I grew up with TV. Now we both have iPhones and laptops and email and Amazon Prime accounts.

I mustered up every argument I could think of. I described how cool I was, how clued in I am to every meme and tech trend. I mean, I write this blog. About technology.

And they were merciless. They did not budge in their opinion.

And since that family dinner, I am still thinking about this. Is my Zeitgeist, my Weltanschauung really closer to my mother's than to my children's?

What about you, what do you think?

Gen X speak up! You do not have a representative in my family.

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