Bridging The Gap: Baby Boomers VS Gen Y

“ Technology is best when it brings people together” - Matt Wullenweg

A famed misconception of a hard-working generation or rays of hope against the unknown?

The Baby boomers brought revolutionary changes in all aspects of society, from music to education, warfare to media. They have excelled in different areas and have become the beacons of excellence for Generation Y or famously called the millennials. This Baby Boomer generation was born on the fear of war and social pressure which shaped their mindset to challenge the world of the pre-war existing conditions into areas that were undreamt.

The Association of Communication and Civilization:

All generations have been associated with the social implications of technology which supports the betterment of communication. Thereby communication becomes key in any civilization and way of life. Civilizations are built of Human potential and this potential is based on how communication was done. This is seen from prehistoric sign languages used by the early homo sapiens. It was then processed towards specific sounds with refinement and codification of sounds in phonetics and into symbols painted on walls, marks on clay tablets, chiseled on stone. The invention of an early pen and ink on a papyrus scroll or a bark sheet or a roll of cloth, on processed paper are few examples from the past. This type of communication was also further developed into flags, letters, posters, pamphlets, newspapers, etc with the introduction of electricity, telegraphs, radio systems, and the lists go on. From the evidences in the past, it is sure that with each introduction of a revolutionary communication, the generation around it gets attached to it and would not move away from it, because of social inertia.

Communication On The Fabric Of The Generation:

When Human potential is built on any communication, it is seen only interpersonally. This mutual communication enforces the human way of life. It impacts each human being on their thinking and fosters the birth of ideas and innovations.

Communication does not always mean having a face to face dialogue. It can also be about sharing views on internet, writing letters and posts, posting pictures on Instagram with hashtags that can reach millions of viewers instantly. Therefore with varying new ways of communication,  the definition of interpersonal communication between the generations varies to a great extent. It is noted from the past that different generations use different technologies to communicate are more comfortable using it, which sometimes also shows a sort of disdain to other forms of technologies. This changes can be clearly seen in the way Baby Boomers & Gen Y’s mode of communication. While the former is known to be the believers in face-to-face interactions, the later is, of course, the pioneers of first tech front liners and instant messaging.

Who Are Baby Boomers?

The Baby boomer generation is the group whose members were born from 1944 to 1964. They are the members of the demographically large generation born between the end of WWII and the mid-1960s. This generation is defined more clearly by its population growth and historical events they have witnessed.

They are responsible for the Counterculture which led to the growth of rock and roll music and famous bands like Beatles and festivals like Woodstock as everlasting presence. The generation saw this as a way to be away from the cliché liberal or conservative outlook. This aspect of music was prominent with the introduction of transistor radios in their adolescent years and later on the Television. They were keen on the introduction of iconic TV shows such as the Star Trek, the Twilight zone which proved to have been passed to the next generation in bits and pieces.

Technology’s Role Between Generations:

With the introduction of the cell phones and internet, the generation Y picked it up as part of their normal environment and easily adopted it without any qualms, categorizing them as Digital natives. This technology of seismic waves is the one that was developed by those Baby boomers with famous examples of tech thinkers like Steve Jobs. This would have been seen by that generation as a novelty or a tool with strict and restricted uses like emails as they happen to value face to face communication and do not rely on instant communication for their interpersonal means.

Most of the Baby boomers today don’t value much about the massive usage of technology in all domains. On the other side, the Millennials see that the baby boomers are resistant to the change in technology and the mindset to which technology was only an option. This provides a generational gap as it fosters hindrance to communication between the generations. These differences persist because of varying work cultures between the two generations as the Gen Y is more competitive while the Baby boomers have a strong work ethic. (Ref: Elza Venter, 2016)

Narrowing the Technological Gap:

To declare that the Baby Boomers are hesitant to adopt the present technology is not the right thing to say and they are the ones who implemented it in the first place. Secondly, it becomes more difficult to understand the hesitancy of the baby boomers as they teach and pass it to the next generation. Thereby, the baby boomers must undergo a gradual phase in order to open up themselves and not to allow the prejudice against the Gen Y to stand in the way to learn and understand the technology. Meaningful conversations and contributions from Gen Y must happen in order to play a significant role. 

These communication means should combine the different approaches adopted by the generations so that the differences must be mitigated to a certain level. On the other hand, Gen Y must work to illustrate the benefits of the new age technology and specified applications at work like an HRMS software which would help to digitalise labor and employee records and provide cost-effective solutions.

Gen Y members must establish good mechanisms and procedures in order to close the gap and have to rigorously check on the effectiveness of the procedures. These procedures should provide just a touch and go effect, but must involve practical experience as baby boomers are known to be continuous learners.

Sabattini et al in their book, Beyond Generational Differences recommends the teaching mechanism to the varying employee structure should involve 3 parts with respective sub mechanisms

• Senior leaders and Supervisors

• Systems and Strategies

• Specific Organizational Strategies

Positive Outcome:

Technology should be a mechanism to further enhance human experience and progress and cut across the dividing demographic lines in order to support merit and skill to the right situation. It must also provide a coping mechanism that would bridge gaps between differences spread across the two generations. Such mechanisms can provide hope and lead the world towards a more advanced and agile community.