Glad to stop by again and thanks for your response.

It may be so that many people of the two or three pre-web generations are not very web savvy. But – perhaps because of being 49 myself – I know quite a lot people between 30 and 60 who are doing quite fine online. Anyway, the point of the article is that the Gen Y stereotyping is just about a small, socially uppish layer of Western kids. And if I understand the sociological research referred to in the article properly, even a substantial amount of those select few need extra class at university to learn the ropes.

What I actually think is that the Gen Y sterotyping thing is an invention of consultants who want to sell advice, and technical companies who want to sell toys. It is a marketing thing plain and simple: about slogans and sales.

Regards, Mireille

I did like his graphical slides for the most part. The image of the child and the grandmother at the end (hopefully I’m not mixing up presentations here, they sort of run together) didn’t seem to fit however. What I liked about this slide approach though was that he did talk to the slides and build a message for each. This is opposed to reading the slides which some of the presenters fell into. The only risk I see though is that, as leave behinds, the slides would require the presentation notes as well.

I think you’re absolutely right. And i think one of the key reasons for the stereotyping that the upcoming generations are these totally-connected link-o wizards is because many people of the two or three older pre-Web generations are still not all that comfortable with electronic, and web-enabled, devices. And .. please notice I said “many”, not “all”. I don’t want to stereotype older people either. But many of them are not certain about how to use computers beyond opening and sending e-mails, using MS Word, and browsing web sites with which they are familiar.

And when it comes to work having experience and context is often very valuable and it takes time, study and living through cycles of events to acquire that experience and context.

In other words, I am with you … Gen Y and its characterization as the interconnected smart-thumbs be-all and end-all of the workforce of the future can be misleading. But it’s also true, I think, that there are some significant generational differences that are observable when it comes to how they interact, participate and access, use and process information (in the workplace and elsewhere).