One of the best things about getting older is that you get to learn so much from the folks who are younger than you.
Recently I went to visit an old friend whom I met while in dental school. Marc is a life-long Santa Monica, Calif., guy. We have reforged our relationship after about a 30-year hiatus during which time we both built careers and raised children.
While walking on the beach with Marc and Deb, I got a chance to realize some of the many lessons my children have taught me. I couldn't help but notice that all three of us had cellphones. All during our walk there were constant communications with these amazing pieces of technology. The interesting part was that all of the communications were with our family members.
What a concept, I thought. Our children have taught us we can stay in touch whenever we want. Not only that, I was able to share our experience with my children by sending instantly over text a photo that I had just taken with my phone.
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I often thank my children for taking the time to teach me how to use this new technology as well as for having patience during my learning process.
The other thing I noticed is that our children are educating us about the new length of time between generations. As I noticed how Marc and I communicated with our grown children, I could see that although they may only have a 16-year range in ages, there seems to be four different "generations" in their technology usage.
Marc's oldest child is 34 and lives out of state. I asked if he communicates with her regularly. "Well, she will call every once in a while." Marc's son is 28 and I could not help but enjoy the fact that his son called three times as we walked on the beach. He is quite a young man and wanted to share his recent successes with his dad.
I commented to Marc that it is amazing that he only irregularly speaks with his oldest by phone. She was in high school pre-cellphone era. However, his son was of the cellphone generation starting in high school, and they speak regularly. What hit me, though, was that Marc doesn't know how to text and his children don't communicate with him that way.
My son, like Marc's, had a cellphone in high school. He is 24, and we call often. We also text frequently, as messaging came into being when he was in college. Then there is our 18-year-old daughter, who had a phone and was texting before she was in high school. When we really need to communicate with her, we text. Do not waste time calling her - "That is so six years ago!"
Things have evolved from no cellphone, to cellphone, to cellphone with texting, and now to practically texting only. By learning to communicate with different generations, we have learned much about new technologies.
It seems that with each passing year, technology changes and having children to educate me pays more and more dividends.
Enjoy the journey,
Bob
E-mail Bob Oro at northwest@azstarnet.com
