The video above is from “Super News,” a great online show that’s always entertaining especially when it comes to its references and illustrations.
I would describe the show’s humor as post “South Park” and “Family Guy.” This show deals with Generation Y’s dominance over technology and the Baby Boomers.
The main problem between these two generations isn’t the Baby Boomers’ lack of technological knowledge. Rather, it’s the lack of communication between the two groups.
Generation Y and Baby Boomers don’t speak the same language. The questions Baby Boomers ask don’t make sense to Generation Y. Similarly, Generation Y’s answers don’t make sense to Baby Boomers.
Are we speaking different languages? Should communication between individuals from the same country (and often within the same family), be so difficult?
Language isn’t the only problem. Our responses and “response times” are also completely different. Generation Y grew up in a digital world, with windows icons everywhere. Copying and Pasting are a way of life. It feels as if we are born knowing how to do this stuff.
However, for Baby Boomers all this has to be explained. The “Home” button doesn’t naturally make sense to Baby Boomers. They aren’t graced with the intuition Generation Y has, due to videogames and other high tech childhood toys.
If you’re familiar with “Kasper Hauser” then you know that language isn’t stagnant. Rather it’s alive, as we soak it up from all the environments in which we exist. Language only becomes a part of us, after our articulation, though we aren’t actively conscious of this whole process.
Perhaps this is the true gap of communication between the Y’s and the Boomers. Generation Y learns without the pressure of learning. They learn naturally and intuitively. Language is fluid, and flows out inexplicably, as it becomes a part of us. It’s similar to what we observe in a video game like “Myst,” or an advanced search on Google, where everything just flows out.
Is the wave interference in our communication, keeping us from learning, and establishing relationships between Y’s and Boomers?
Without language there is no communication, as Jean Piaget and Vygotsky wisely wrote in their theories on learning.
