November 26, 2008
Online security guru Bruce Schneier thinks that the Internet is the biggest contributor to the cultural divide between old and young since the 1950s:
"The Internet is the greatest generation gap since rock and roll. We're now witnessing one aspect of that generation gap: the younger generation chats digitally, and the older generation treats those chats as written correspondence. Until our CEOs blog, our Congressmen Twitter, and our world leaders send each other LOLcats – until we have a Presidential election where both candidates have a complete history on social networking sites from before they were teenagers – we aren't fully an information age society."
For the full article, click here.
Comments | 11 Total
November 26, 2008 at 10:51am by Brendan Collins
I've wondered the same question: what happens when we have Presidential candidates who have been on Facebook (and other social networking sites) for 30 years? The electorate will have a scrapbook of their entire lives. If you're a young person, there's essentially no way to avoid having your life documented online to a certain extent. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.
November 26, 2008 at 11:39am by david wayne osedach
The difference between the two generations is that one uses the internet as a tool; the other a toy.
November 26, 2008 at 5:23pm by Joan Banich
The internet has actually NARROWED the generation gap as it allows all generations to communicate and collaborate with each other like never before. As one personal example, the internet has connected me to (at least) 4 generations of global women leaders through the Global Women's Leadership Network, that 15 years ago, I would not have been able to collaborate with.
November 27, 2008 at 3:10am by Ariel Beery
The generation gap is much bigger. The internet has generated the First Digital generation -- the first generation that experiences reality without time-space restrictions. So as where the Rock and Roll gap was caused in rebellion, the Digital gap is simply a parting of ways. That we now exist across multiple media is much larger of a change than when there was a rebellion express across multiple media but lived in one unified experience of reality.
November 27, 2008 at 1:17pm by Jeffrey Marchand
Absolutely. Never before have kids been able to dig-in (war analogy) to their little laboratories with their media and entertainment so proprietarily from their parents and elders, and virtually stealth like. We couldn't hide our AC/DC addictions like they can.
November 27, 2008 at 3:54pm by Braeg Heneffe
I agree but watch this space - another generation fades away and we are left with no gap.
November 29, 2008 at 4:05am by ivan mladenovic
the generation gap is more about necessity than anything. for the net generation, the internet is a requirement, a necessity, something we cannot live without. The other side of the spectrum finds utility in the Internet, but it is not integrated in their lives.
This is a great doc to check out about mass collaboration, government, and the internet: http://www.themcompanies.com/blog/us-now-the-power-of-mass-collaboration...
November 29, 2008 at 4:14am by south hollywood
maybe years ago this was true but you can take any subject:
cooking, computers, politics, exercise, etc and there will always be the haves and have nots. The black and white. The clear and the grey. It is inherit of information that there is an ebb and flow hierarchy of knowledge. Saying the internet has created a generation gap is like saying the salt water is beter and or different that fresh water.
November 29, 2008 at 10:40am by Randy San Nicolas
I don't have to look beyond my own family to agree. Watching my 14 year old daughter teach my mother how to use Skype to contact our family members on Guam confirms this. The internet is just a part of life for my daughter. For my mother it is a novel way to talk to family.
November 29, 2008 at 11:39am by Ellis Traub
Many of us septuagenarians are Web-savvy and enjoy the ride.
December 1, 2008 at 9:54am by Matt Timothy
With succinct summaries of any topic imaginable a mouse click or two away do you think I worry we are loosing the ability to identify key points on our own. I use Google every day, but I do worry about what we are giving up with all this speed and efficiency.