Understanding The Generational Gap

Today I wake up and across three separate mediums within 5 minutes (a TV show, the radio on the morning news and a news article online) I see and hear references to ‘…the generations’.

A prelude to the generations

The old one is silent (the Silent Generation) struggling to stay in touch with loved ones over the phone from across the globe, forgetting about letters altogether, what are those any more?

The Boomers, a once hip, cool and funky bunch (the Baby Boomers) however social, now grappling with the meaning of it all (the digital connectedness of things surrounding them) pulling their hair out and struggling to keep up with all the tech stuff. There’s the current working class (Gen X) and their cousins (Gen Y) whizz bang into the full swing of it all, and the new happy bunch…welcome ‘Gen Z’…or whatever you will be named in time to come…

A family relative returns from a trip to Vegas, having attended a massive industry trade show, this week and once gain I hear it; a global speaker headlines his talk with …you guessed it, the generations…

The way the current story of the world goes right now is that apparently ‘everything’ is all about generational Marketing (my personal favourite) and ‘tapping in’ to the right generation with the right message, in the right channel, at the right time. Behind all of this tipping and tapping lie layers and layers of data which the Analysts crunch away at, analysing and researching and collating and cross-referencing only to patch the data back in to the Marketing activity, to better understanding it all and find a better way to communicate between the generations (take a breath), and finding the intersection points so that they can better anticipate the next move of each…

Then my 10 year old wakes up. After watching Britain’s Got Talent on YouTube (on the iPad), he hits the PC and fires up Microsofts Mojangs Minecraft (with all the latest ‘Mods’ — modifications he’s made to the game) just before grabbing a piece of toast and about to power up the Xbox.

I stop him on his way and ask: “What should we do today, Son?” he says: “…lets call Granny and Grandpa and see what they’re doing…”

You see, in that moment I realise that ‘Gen Z’ (or whatever you want to call them) have been labelled by all preceding generations as these ‘whizz’ kids but in fact, all they wake up and do is live and exist. We think they are geniuses when they hit six figures at age 18 or 20 because, like ‘Zuckerberg’, they discover the next big thing but in fact, they know no different. They’re not born with any special wiring and in fact they come up with those ideas without trying very hard at all.

But, they have all of this amazing technology at hand to lift them up and succeed in a world surrounded by outdated Generations staring down upon them with huge expectations of true genius…

Let’s give ‘Gen Z’ their space and help them slow it down a little. Lets appreciate their moment and let them shine! Perhaps we can learn to let go of how things used to be and roll with the way things are today, ‘Gen Z-style’.

It’s raining in Sydney today but the sun’s come out…I think we’ll call Granny and Granpa and see what they’re up to, maybe do some geocaching or go watch the little guy catch some waves at Bondi…

I found the below great Generational Chart and credit the creator below. I recommend visiting the Web URL below the image, if this topic interests you as they present some interesting research as the content and context surrounding the image:

Thanks for reading, please share, Regards Glenn Miller (Sydney, Australia).

Article written by Glenn Miller. Please visit my Website and feel free to connect. I love meeting new, innovative and exciting people.