OT: Re: Younger generations preferring social media(esque) interactions.

Wed Mar 24 15:59:29 UTC 2021

On 3/24/21 8:08 AM, Phineas wrote:
> Chiming in as a somewhat-younger network engineer here (19) - I think 
> that Discord should be more widely considered and approved as an option 
> across the board here. I’m active on mailing lists, and while they work, 
> at the end of the day I’d much rather be using an app like Discord, and 
> I know this is true for a lot of the next generation of net engineers.

I think age has something to do with that too, and I don't mean this as 
offensive at all because I've been there done that, but lack of other 
things going on in life. When I was 19 I had no problem being available 
on my cell phone at all times. I'd do weekends and nights with joy. I'd 
volunteer to take all the extra projects the older people didn't want. 
I'd make up projects just because. I'd respond to 
messages/emails/whatever immediately if I was awake no matter what time 
it was. Hell, I used to respond to NOC stuff while I was sitting in 
class rather than wait until the end.

Now that I'm older and have things like a house and family, I slowly 
shifted to not wanting to be available constantly. I'd rather work on 
some house project, bake a cake, watch TV with the wife, or play games I 
missed out on when I was "busy" with stuff that hardly seems important 
now. I don't want my life to be a slave to apps or jump at every 
notification I get. I have a laptop just in case I need one, but my 
primary work area is my desk with desktop computer. When I step away 
from my desk I'm really stepping away, not transitioning to the sofa or 
dinner table to keep working on a laptop (something I did in my 20's). 
Now if someone messages me and I don't think it's time critical I'll get 
back to it when I feel like it. If it's emergency pick up the phone and 
dial a voice call: if it's not worth that much effort, it's not that 
important. I don't want to end up divorced or have a contentious home 
life because I can't separate work from the wife and kids.

So the way I see it there will *always* be a general disconnect in how 
the younger and older groups prefer to interact because they're simply 
at completely different stages in their lives.