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

Thu Mar 25 16:54:07 UTC 2021

But obviously my experience and age has failed to break me of top-posting .. sorry!

..Allen

> On Mar 25, 2021, at 12:51, Allen McKinley Kitchen (gmail) <allenmckinleykitchen at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> And to push this point further:
> 
> I don’t claim to speak for all graybeards, but now that I am past the era of enjoying my kids' school activities, and resting on an empty nest, I once again don’t mind being involved in what younger engineers are doing far beyond “work hours”. There are a few reasons for that: it turns out that this is when “the kids” tend to be doing the most interesting and boundary-pushing work, and the observations that an old-head can offer are sometimes welcome; also, that lets me have a vital window on what they're doing and how it may affect the world as we know it; and finally, rather than being jealous of my time, my beloved speaks of being proud of how I am called on by younger peers and can remember things that the kids haven’t had time to learn. 
> 
> Now that last one has no real network application .. but it makes me feel good. 
> 
> So .. ages and stages, +1.
> 
> ..Allen
> 
>> On Mar 25, 2021, at 00:26, Mark Tinka <mark at tinka.africa> wrote:
>> 
>> 
>> 
>>>> On 3/24/21 17:59, Seth Mattinen wrote:
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 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.
>> 
>> 100%.
>> 
>> Mark.
>> 