Consider the diff generations that’ve lived thru all the changes in tech that’ve happened over the last 80 yrs – from Baby Boomers on thru Gen Z & now Gen Alpha.
1980 is the cut-off line where Gen X became Gen Y (aka “Millennials”). I’m sure ppl in each generation feel as tho they have a unique perspective of the world based on when they were born/what they’ve lived thru…but when it comes to those of us born right at the end of Gen X, the perspective of how tech has shaped (or misshaped) connection is fascinating.
It’s the last generation that grew up knowing what it was like NOT to have instant messenger, txt msg, smart phones or even social media – but who had to quickly adapt to becoming super users of that tech as they entered into the workforce.
If you’re arnd that age – you played out in the street after school w the other kids “on the block,” you had parents make calls for you to set up hang out times w friends, or sleepovers, you personally had to call a landline of a significant other or someone you were interested in & hope their parents didn’t pick up or that the “beep” from “call waiting” didn’t interrupt an existing call. You left msgs on a “tape” recorder that got played back.
It was a simpler time. It was less efficient – you couldn’t get as much done. Parents worried abt you driving home at nt from a party bc there were no cell phones to check-in.
But being in that age range myself, I’ve seen the devolution of connection, as tech has improved. You’ve heard this before but we are both more connected & less connected all at the same time. We can get “in touch” w more ppl in less time than ever before, but being in touch doesn’t mean truly connecting.
Last 2 slides➡️ when we work w schools, bc of the above, we do vulnerability workshops w teachers. When sharing vulnerable stories w colleagues – we ask them to write an X if they didn’t know what their colleague shared before that session, & a check if they did. Universally, Xs:Checks is 4:1 or 5:1. We don’t know what each other’s carrying in their invisible backpacks, bc w tech, we’re not taking the time to truly connect & get vulnerable. We need to.