Intergenerational dialogues
🔍 #tech #Internet #psych #intergenerations
Last Tended: 21.11.21
This essay is 6 of 7 essays for The Tech Progressive Writing Challenge. Join the build_ Discord to join the conversation.
The Internet has created a level playing field in terms of community, education and employment for its 4.7 billion users. Opportunities are no longer bound by geography or time nor by age or gender. People are communicating asynchronously across oceans and space. What’s been interesting is the conversation occurring between different generations.
Investigating Digital Natives personalities
The foundations of the traditional world are breaking down in terms of finance, government, employment etiquette. The world is becoming more open to new ways of working, philosophies and being. Today’s technological era therefore lends itself more than ever to the young. With relatively few responsibilities and thus more time, they are able to learn and keep pace with fast-evolving developments. Young folks can take on risky endeavours and experience far less consequences if they fail. A wider Internet community allows them to tap into informational resources they may not have reached otherwise.
Previously it was generally younger generations who were time-wealthy but financially-poor while older generations were financially-wealthy but time-poor. However, Web3 has rewritten the script. NFTs mean that digital natives have access to other avenues of wealth. DAOs have enabled individuals to experiment and participate in causes without needing the rigmarole of bureaucracy. People can be mobilised around missions on a global scale instead of merely local. Due to the strong values of participation in this new space there’s an attitude of ownership and self-responsibility that is being fostered. The new evolution of the Internet revolves around the creation of work to inspire credibility and specialisation.
Younger generations have the capacity to exponentially outstrip older in terms of digital knowledge. The knowledge has led to a curious response. To speculate, and clearly this is not speaking for a group of people as a whole, it could be a mixture of distrust of figures who represent the old world who have created rules and systems that have served them well. The reins that some of these powerful figures hold seem unjustly comfortable and out of touch. There’s also a subtle feeling of discounting opinions due to older generations being time poor and thus have less experience. In some ways these are unspoken questions asking if you’ve been in the same technological trenches - Have you experienced what we have? Would you understand? Can we trust you?
Engaging in dialogues
How can we better facilitate better discussions without reactionary dismissal on either side? The Internet may bring a premium on innovation, being on the cutting edge and first-hand knowledge. But the characteristics that do transcend arbitrary age brackets however are openness to change, enthusiasm for participation and curiosity. There must be a balance between the ability (and need) to push the envelope out of stale environments but also guardrails like laws to create safe environments. It’s a Hegelian spiral between exploration and regulation. Too much of either is unsustainable. The real world has its responsibilities, as does that of the digital world. We will continue to have friction between both sets of duties as we travel further into a digitalised era and continue to edit the rules of Internet citizenship.