A new way of communicating?

I'm beginning to feel a generational gap, as I hadn't felt before. As I get closer to my 50th birthday and further away from 40, the age of university students is less than half mine, or very close to it...

Differences are to be expected. That's what my parents noticed when they told me about them, and that's what I notice.

But can we say that these differences are not good? Some of my colleagues, who are a little older, say that the changes are clearly for the “worse”.

Let me give you an example. Nowadays, if we're explaining a procedure to a group of students, it's not at all uncommon for them not to be looking at the object of interest, or the case we're talking about, but to be looking at their cell phones or tablets where, as well as taking notes, they end up having several windows or applications active.

From my side, I don't like this situation either. And it's not because we're disregarded, or labeled as someone else who's talking. Not at all. It's really the lack of interaction and oral communication. We can even ask questions or try to question something they've just heard. But if the question doesn't go directly to someone in the group, it's more likely that we won't even get an answer.

But is the lack of an answer just a lack of interest or motivation, or is it in any way associated with a different way of communicating than the one I was “taught”?

We know that there are multiple ways of conveying our idea or capturing that of our surroundings. Because the new generation is acting in a more distant and less personal way, can it be considered colder? Maybe so. I don't condemn it, though. There's been a lot they've been through in recent years, and since 2020. A pandemic, where we were basically imprisoned at home, and then gradually came out, but always in fear and almost forced to wear masks and maintain social distance from everything and everyone. We greeted friends by video call, and not even some of us could visit our elderly relatives, because of the risk of them becoming infected.

The Christmas dinners were painfully different from any we had done before. Laws introduced to keep stores full. Reduced opening hours... And just imagine, even rules for being on the beach or in the countryside... As if this would significantly increase the number of infections. Online classes, online exams, online discussions and meetings, teleworking, online shopping, ordering fast food online... And even online and virtual “date nights”. After these forced adaptations that our society has had to make, how would we want the generations that have experienced them the most, and exactly at the time when human interaction skills and the environment are developing the most, to be “similar” to those that preceded them? It would be absolutely impossible. Many experiences have not been had, and others have been created. Giving them completely different interaction tools from those that had previously been used more commonly.

A generation that has certainly widened the generation gap, but in a forced way. Today, we look at “them” as different, but I don't judge them for it. I even end up feeling a little “sorry” for them... Pity that they were robbed of an opportunity to communicate in a more direct and human way.

Thank you for your attention to my daily reflection.

Cheers🍀

Free image from Pixabay.com