As technology pervades the workplace more deeply, generational differences can become a dividing line. We live in an age of transition where technology continues to evolve and people continually try to keep up. I know firsthand that there are still C-level execs at Fortune 100 companies with administrative assistants printing out emails so they can read them, write notes on them and physically send them back (I’m not making this up). Coexisting in the same workplace are junior employees, new to the workforce, raised on a steady diet of technology from birth, who are bringing with them to the office their interconnected, always-on communication style and needs, and comfort in the digital realm that renders the physical obsolete.
I talked recently to an experienced businessperson who is straddling such a technological fault line in her office. She has been driven by the hyper-communicative habits of a junior employee—who constantly pings her with updates and questions and messages—to decrease her accessibility by doing things like entirely shutting down instant messaging. This, lest she get drawn into a constant digital patter that, to her, is non-productive and unnecessary—but that likely feels to her employee like a positive and valuable stream of interaction.
Differences like these are real and widespread. I read an interview recently with Internet guru Marc Andreessen who described how differently young employees today in their late teens and early 20s synthesize information, use technology and perceive business opportunities, vs. colleagues literally just a few years older.
But linking technology uptake entirely to age is to paint too broad a brush. Openness to the potential created by technology is really a state of mind. Take my Digital-savvy Mom for instance. Someone for whom staying connected has always been important, she has embraced technology, well, like an early
adopting teenager. She got started on a cell phone long before the majority of Americans did, and wields it constantly to keep herself connected to a tight web of family and friends. Things hit a new level recently when she switched to an iPhone (How is it possible that my Mom got an iPhone before I did?! I’d prefer not to talk about this.) and started sending emails, watching videos, emailing pictures, listening to the radio on her phone….etc. It really is a brave new world.
Originally published 1/8/10
I talked recently to an experienced businessperson who is straddling such a technological fault line in her office. She has been driven by the hyper-communicative habits of a junior employee—who constantly pings her with updates and questions and messages—to decrease her accessibility by doing things like entirely shutting down instant messaging. This, lest she get drawn into a constant digital patter that, to her, is non-productive and unnecessary—but that likely feels to her employee like a positive and valuable stream of interaction.
Differences like these are real and widespread. I read an interview recently with Internet guru Marc Andreessen who described how differently young employees today in their late teens and early 20s synthesize information, use technology and perceive business opportunities, vs. colleagues literally just a few years older.
But linking technology uptake entirely to age is to paint too broad a brush. Openness to the potential created by technology is really a state of mind. Take my Digital-savvy Mom for instance. Someone for whom staying connected has always been important, she has embraced technology, well, like an early
adopting teenager. She got started on a cell phone long before the majority of Americans did, and wields it constantly to keep herself connected to a tight web of family and friends. Things hit a new level recently when she switched to an iPhone (How is it possible that my Mom got an iPhone before I did?! I’d prefer not to talk about this.) and started sending emails, watching videos, emailing pictures, listening to the radio on her phone….etc. It really is a brave new world.
Originally published 1/8/10