Crossing the Generation Gap

As teenagers, we are supposed to be the ones in touch with technology and modern culture. We all want the newest phones and ipods so that we are up to date with what is “In.” That is a cultural aspect of being young. We know the latest technology more than adults because we are growing up with this. Most adults weren’t presented these options at a young age. However, young age may not be a barrier to these new trends.

My mom, who has four kids and in her mid fifties has recently crossed the generation gap from adult to teenager in how she uses technology. A few years ago she was introduced to texting, which she can now stop doing. She will literally text me if I’m in another room of the house if she wants me to go to her, or walk the dog. If she wants to know where I am, she texts me. In just a couple of years she went from talking on a house phone to texting on a cell phone.

Another way she has joined modern culture is that she now has a facebook and is attached to it. Other classmates of mine notice how she’ll comment on a few status’s, or leave a wall post on my page. I don’t mind because it’s my mom, but I just find it funny how she’s become so socially and technology advanced over the past few years. Many adults say how “us kids” are spoiled with our new technology, but my mom doesn’t. She uses it as a way to join this new wave of technology and be socially and culturally connected with people.

I feel many of the cultural differences between age groups have been getting smaller as technology has grown. This modernized way of life has brought generations closer together, whether it’s good or bad. The most recent thing my mom has gotten is a kindle, something that would be unheard of and unimaginable thirty years ago. Now it is what is expected.