Different Starting Points: How Generations Communicate and Think

The Spark of the Conversation

How did they ever get anywhere asked a Gen Zer when told how new platforms such as Google Maps and Waze are. For Boomers such as me, we found that amusing. We can remember jokes about somebody trying to get directions and being told, after several attempts to give those directions, “You can’t get there from here.” That got me thinking. This is not about who has things right or what is best. My interest is in discussing predictable differences between generations. The thesis is that the differences start with where different generations begin the discussion.

The Boomer Baseline: When Patience Was Built-In

My generation started their professional careers where dialing a phone could, one at a time, get you the quickest answer to a question, comments about something, or an approval. Meetings were face-to-face (more on that later). You literally xeroxed documents and had them delivered by messenger (both locally and out-of-town). It was not until the late 1970s that there was such a thing as a Qwip machine—a precursor to the Fax Machine. It was years before thermal paper was replaced with typing paper. The point to bear in mind is that when you started with time measured on a watch, you could outkick the coverage. You could move things from your outbox more quickly than the available technology could produce responses. You had to wait back then.

Meetings were memorialized in writing when someone typed them up on an electric typewriter. LP records gave way to 8-track tapes, which yielded to cassettes, which became CDs. First came the word processors, then desktop computers. Laptops even later.

The Arrival of the Internet Age

There was no widespread use of the internet until the 1990s. In 1996, you still had dial-up to connect to it. I will go to my grave saying the biggest game changer in my life occurred in 1998, the year high-speed internet became widely available (as in available at the Holiday Inn Express in Yazoo City, Mississippi). Pagers were not around until the 1990s (ask a Gen Zer what one even is). By the middle 1990’s, most professionals had mobile flip phones. 1996 was the change from analog to digital. Thus, most electronic communications were emails, not texts. Apple did not enter the fray until 2007.

Boomers started with three network television channels, added a couple of VHS options in the 1970s. Cable became a thing in the 1980s. And, the young ones wonder why so many of us old farts struggle with streaming.

These are not scars from change. However, they do help explain where Boomers begin their thinking. Time moved at the pace of looking at your watch.

The Gen Z Perspective: Born Wired

What about Gen Z—those born between 1997-2012? It is safe to say the ones in 1997 don’t remember the year before widely available high-speed internet became widely available. In other words, every single day of their lives included being wired in. When they think of communicating a document, it becomes a shared Google document where multiple people can give input at the same time. Want to schedule something with others? Why do you go to the Google calendar, where, at a glance, you can see what would work? The idea of sharing video on a computer screen was not much of a thing back in the day.

Meetings in person? Especially after COVID, except in rare situations, why would we waste our time going to a single fixed location? Why not do a Google Meet or a Microsoft call? You can do a lot more of them in a day, plus members of your team can change for each one of them.

From Networks to Niche Communities

The idea of legacy linear platforms dominating the conversation has yielded to digital platforms, especially including podcasts and social media (a topic for another day). For the three networks to succeed, they needed a wide appeal. It is safe to say that today, most communications, including many of a professional nature, are essentially affinity-based in concept and practice. That results in a whole lot of talking to yourself. For amusement, you decide for yourself what you will watch and when (save for live sports and breaking news).

The Gen Zers are used to texting multiple people in short periods of time, using email for virtually anything. In other words, they can get more done more quickly, because they start the conversation from a different starting point—one where communication is almost defined by what is current in the digital world (and it continues to evolve at a breathtaking pace). They think and even talk faster. They don’t even know what a rotary dial phone is, much less its role in the evolution of communications ecosystems. They measure time with a smartphone in hand. All of this is natural for them. Take it from me, this is faster than Boomers are used to doing.

The Question Worth Asking

In a civilized, versus confrontational, world, it should be possible to examine whether, in some or even many instances, going this fast, and getting more things done more quickly, is producing a higher number and better quality of final results more quickly. Are we confusing motion for progress? This ought not to be a debate as to who or what is inherently superior. Rather, understanding where each generation begins the conversation, what do we want to agree should be the standards to decide how good or bad something is? Where do we put measurable facts? Honesty? Integrity? Desired for a shared community? At this point, regrettably, my fear is that different generations cannot agree on what should be factored into the discussion, much less how to value them.

Finding Common Ground

Remember this. Different generations start a conversation with a different set of shared experiences for each generation. Hopefully, as we move forward in time, we will find a way to do it with a shared value system.