Cell phones, palm pilots, the internet, a whole new way to keep in touch and acquire information. But does this come at a cost, of a more impersonal way of communication? The more popular cell phones and the internet become, it seems the less face to face contact or communication there is. The past few generations and ones that are growing up now have a very different idea of the importance of this new wave of communication.

Teenagers and early adults often times feel lost without the internet and their cell phones. We feel that we need constant communication with friends no matter how far away we are. Things such as instant messenger allow us to multitask on say doing our homework and talking to our friends all at the same time. We get very frustrated when our parents or adults don’t know how to use the internet and when they get annoyed with us texting so much. I think the problem is that we often times forget that our parents and grandparents did not grow up with these ways of communication and are not used to it for the most part.

According to a PBS Frontline special titled “Growing Up Online”, many parents worry that their children are spending too much time on the computer or their cell phones and that it is taking time away from more important things, but to these younger generations, these things are in fact important to them. Another struggle is in schools. In many schools, some teachers are having trouble with this generation gap as well. They are noticing that the students are having trouble focusing and paying attention more than in the past and its said to be attributed to their fast paced internet world that they are used to. Teachers are realizing that the traditional lecture setting might not be cutting it these days.

Parents are concerned that when their children are on such networking social sites as “myspace” and “facebook”, that they are putting themselves out there for any one and even dangerous online predators. This worry is versus the thoughts and opinions of the children where they feel like these sites are a way to express them selves. In this video, many of the children explain that online they can either be totally themselves, more so than at school, or they can be someone and something completely different if they choose. In middle school and high school this is a constant battle of fitting in and finding who you are. Some kids in the video said that creating an online world for themselves separate from reality can be an escape from the worries of school and friends.

According to this Frontline special, “Its been said that the internet has created the greatest generation gap since the advent of rock and roll”. This generation gap really can be frustrating and cause a lot of friction between parents and children. Parents get stuck in a battle of trying to get along and be understanding of their children but also protect them and raise them the best they can. But children take this protection as an invasion of their privacy. It really tends to create friction between parents and children. To children their privacy is very important to them but parents are usually only trying to be helpful and protect them.

According to an article by Barry Wellman, titled “Connecting communities: on and offline”, there is really no separation of reality and this online internet world, and rather its all been correlated together. He explains that the internet brings communities together that are usually not so. As some adults are catching up and moving along with this new technology, still for many it’s a strange new world. Some interesting statistics from this article are that between 1997 and 2001 the amount of Americans on computers had increased by 27 percent and the online population rose 152 percent. This is a huge change in only four years. This kind of data really shows that technology is changing and changing fast.

Wellman also talks about the affects of this shift in differing ways of communication. Things like email and instant messaging are the newer and less “intrusive” ways to get in touch with people, versus other more traditional forms such as phone and in person. In his opinion these newer ways are not better or worse but just different.

In conclusion, it is evident that there is in fact a generation gap in understanding and differing levels of comfort with new technologies such as the internet and cell phones. I think that younger generations should be a little more understanding of the frustrations of the older generations such as their parents and grandparents because they did not grow with these technologies. On the other hand, parents for example should also be understanding and maybe a little more flexible and accepting these new technologies and ways of communication. This acceptance and flexibility is important because technology is only advancing, and many think its not going to stop progressing any time soon.

mwalsh @ April 10, 2008