The very first thing that strikes my mind when i think about this topic is that you can’t teach an old dog new trick! It’s not for nothing that this saying has come into usage. They say that ‘old is gold’ and they say that wisdom, intelligence and patience define old age. But where is the awareness? Where is the knowledge? Nowhere! They are missing! That is where the communication between the older generation and the younger generation receives a great blow.
The difference in outlook and lack of understanding between people of different generations-that is how the Oxford dictionary defines ‘generation gap‘and there lies the obstacle to the situation. The scenario was not so even a couple of decades ago‘. But the ever accelerating advancement of technology has evolved a new generation in the past two decades. They are more aware, more informed and definitely more fearless. They are programmed to adapt to the groundbreaking invention and advancement that ‘they’ are ‘we’–the fresh new generation. The specialty of the younger generation is that they can tune their minds to match the frequencies of tomorrow. But in this aspect, the older generation is stuck, immobile and is simply reluctant to imbibe or accept any form of advancement. This is where the lack is. They lag behind a lot in terms of basic knowledge; the basic know-how of technology. Then how do they learn from the younger generation? From where do they start? Rather what do they learn?
In today’s life in the fast lane, our progresses evaluated in micro and nano seconds. The younger generation has brought about this radix change throughout the world. They are trained like ‘horses for the course’. But the older generation is simply struggling to adapt to and cope with the fast life. Just like the gap between the poorer and the richer is widening every moment, similarly the generation gap between the younger and the older is widening with every passing second.
Ego too, has something to do in the widening of the generation gap. Needless to say, the older generation is certainly more egoistic, and this forms another barrier in the inter-generation communication. Beliefs broken, superstitions cracked, myths retold, and old ‘truths’ proven false, that is indeed tough for the older folks to accept or even tolerate! Reluctant to do so, they prefer being in the dark world than to learn and accept the radical changes that the younger generation has brought about. In such a scenario, there is no question about the older generation learning anything from the younger lot. They are just too stubborn about the modern outlook and modern ‘eccentricity’. They only believe in different strokes for different folks.
Over the last few decades, human behaviour has also changed. So has the thinking process. The new generation now believes in logical truths and reasonable facts. They have successfully escaped from the darkness of superstition that prevails over the older generation. This has made them extremely fearless. The adrenaline rush in the blood of the youth is definitely manifold times faster than that of the older generation, even when they were young! And the rush is ever increasing. If someone says that the older generation should learn from the younger generation to be fearless, he or she must be definitely jesting! Fearless at this age! Doesn’t sound rational! Still it is appreciable that someone has kept his/her hope alive regarding the older generation. But l honestly speaking, l think it is sensible to say that are nothing that the older generation can learn am the younger generation. It’s time to move on, along with the evergreen youth.
The older generation is such that they won’t even want to risk their money in banks! Instead they prefer keeping their money at home in cupboards! They don’t even believe that banks give interest. That is the outdated outlook, which can only be laughed at by the people of the modern world. Yet there are handfuls that want to imbibe the nature of the younger generation, the modern outlook. But they lack the basic knowledge, the basic know-how. They want to advance, they want to move ahead, but their feet are rooted to the ground. If someone wants to do calculus in math, he needs to have the concept of ‘limits and continuity’. If someone wants to know limits and continuity, they need to have the knowledge of ‘functions’. If someone wants to know the function, they also need to know the brain-storming ‘trigonometry’ and it carries on. If trigonometry is not your cup of tea, then ‘calculi can’t even be a glass of water! This is where the drawback is. The older generation lacks the foundation of advancement, and the basic knowledge of technology. So how do they resonate with the younger generation? If you don’t master trigonometry, how would you understand the language of calculus? That is what l is trying to say about the older generation. They do not understand the language of the newer generation so how can they learn from them? It is totally alien to them.
The ever-advancing young generation has no time to look back. Everything lies ahead.
Whether you call it a nut and bolt of different diameters, or a book bigger than its shelf or two tuning forks vibrating at different frequencies, the underlying statement remains the same there is nothing that the older generation can learn from is younger generation.