It’s below me.

I’ve been coming to the realization lately that the generation gap is below me now. Life’s been hinting at it for a while, but lately there have been a few things that have made it glaringly obvious. Take for example:

I have to listen to NPR to find out what the latest cool words are, like YOLO.

I’m with the teacher on this one – BC Comic, 5 September 2012. Not only do I not tweet my entire summer vacation, but I really don’t need to hear about anyone else’s that way either. I find the need to instantly update the entire world about everything a bit bizarre. My life is perfectly official without having to put it on twitter or facebook.

And I don’t feel the need to have my cell phone become a permanent part of my body. I generally know where mine is, but it isn’t generally with me. It’s interesting how these devices that are supposed to bring us together are actually widening the social gulf between people. For a particular study they had two strangers talk to each other with either a notebook or a cell phone (that didn’t belong to either person) on the table. If they talked in the presence of the cell phone they weren’t able to connect. I’d rather connect with people than things.

The fact that I look at that study, and one about social media negatively effecting how pre-teen girls feel about themselves, and want to run around and take all the cell phones and social-media accounts away from them all probably truly puts me above that gap now.

I think I’m okay with this above the gap thing though. I always wanted to be an old fuddy-duddy when I grow up. Can a person be a Luddite and a technophile at the same time?