Essay Example on Exploring the Hidden Generation Gap: Causes & Effects

Introduction

The term generational gap is used to referrer to the differences between a younger generation and their seniors (Bhattacharyya, 2017). Generally, each generation is developed in different periods with different ideals and different ways of living. However, these differences have been presented throughout history, with old age being faced with cultural change, thus affecting the actual society, particularly with the new generations (Bhattacharyya, 2017). The hidden generation gap is defined as being most extensive when one of the two generations is the adolescent (Bhattacharyya, 2017). This gap is more evident in the field of technology as it exists in almost all aspects of personal and social domains; where one of the generations is a digital native and the other generation an alien or even an immigrant depending upon the stage of the continuous sequence of adulthood (Riva, 2018). This gap is evident from tablets and smartphones to apps and social media; society is trapped from all sides with technology. Generally, all generations embrace these technologies differently, with younger or the digital natives generally being more tech-literate, more switched-on, and more connected than older age groups (Bhattacharyya, 2017). This paper outlines and discusses the generational gap caused by electronics such as smartphones, video games, social media, and other forms of technologies.

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Technological Generation Gap and the Use of Smartphones

Current generations usually make extensive use of new technologies such as PCs, mobile phones, especially smartphones, the internet, and its associated tools such as PlayStations and video games. Such techniques were absent at the time the parents of these young generations were growing up (Anderson & Rainie 2018). Although most of the parents are trying to adapt and provide those technologies for their children, there seems to be a widening generational gap. Younger generations view technology as an integral part of their survival. Since few Gen Z and Millennials can remember a time without their smartphones or social media, they are more carefree and fearless when it comes to technology (Domoff et al., 2019). LivePerson's report showed that 65% of Millennials and Gen Z interact more with each other online than they do in the real world (Bhattacharyya, 2017).

According to research by Pew, 92% of Millennials (born 1981-1996) have smartphones compared to 85% of Gen Xers (born 1965-1980) and 67% of Baby Boomers (born 1946-1964) (Anderson & Rainie 2018). More adult generations favor using their phones mostly for making calls, whereas, for younger generations, a phone is their digital light to the world (Anderson & Rainie 2018). The younger generation uses their phones for going online, emailing, texting, playing games, social media, recording and watching videos, and listening to music (Curtis et al., 2019).

There is also a generation gap in the daily media consumption with the younger generation, mostly using their smartphone to access the media. Millennials and Gen Z (born the late 1990s to early 2010s) prefer streaming and online services, with 46% of teens saying they use Netflix compared to 31% of those aged over 16 (Anderson & Rainie 2018). In addition, 16-24s spend 30% of their downtime watching TV or video, compared to 40% of the time spent on these activities by the average United States adults (Anderson & Rainie 2018). Baby Boomers spend a whopping 344 minutes a day watching regular TV, significantly more than any other age group.

The younger generation tends to take more of their time using various electronic devices; for instance, college students with smartphones is one case of what younger generations partake in that require smartphones to take up more of their time (Bhattacharyya, 2017). Apart from communication and taking photos, they also use their phones for learning purposes; thus, college students find themselves addicted to their smartphones now more than ever (Curtis et al., 2019). Although smartphones are not substituted for a PC, smartphones can do most of the things a PC can play in their hands, which makes it all the more convenient for college students and other higher education students (Bhattacharyya, 2017). They often use their smartphones to check emails or other forms of media with their constant web connection feature that are there in our modern world (Curtis et al., 2019). Although smartphones can be a considerable asset to learning, they are not widely accepted nor utilized in universities and colleges (Poushter, 2016); this could be simply due to a technological generation gap between students and their professors. Therefore, the use of these gargets themselves is significantly influenced by age (Bhattacharyya, 2017).

According to Pew Research on the Center's Internet & American Life Project report on the use of different generation use of technology, smartphones are now the predominant way of interpersonal communication; however, the way they are used significantly varies between generations (Poushter, 2016). Pew Research shows that one of the smartphone activities that transcend age is taking photos (Gafni, & Geri, 2013). Although the adults are likely to click pictures on the smartphones' cameras as the young, the type of photos taken differs, with youths clicking more selfies than adults (Gafni, & Geri, 2013). Gen Z has five screens; they communicate with images, creates things; they are future-focused and tend to be a realist. On the contrary, Millennials have two screens; they tend to interact with text, share ideas; they are focused on the present and are optimistic (Gafni, & Geri, 2013).

Another most significant gap is in public transportation 90% of the age group between 18 years old to 29 years old agree that smartphone usage is generally okay while on the subway, bus, or other mass transit system (Anderson, & Rainie, 2018). However the number dropped drastically to 54% among those 65 years old and older, individuals aged between 30 years old to 40 years old had 79% and those of 50 years old to 64 years old that preferred the use of a smartphone while on public transportation were 71% (Anderson, & Rainie, 2018).

There is another notable gap in dining. Dining provided another satisfying result, with 50% of the youngest age group (18-29) feeling okay about being on their phones, compared to 26 percent from the oldest age group (65+) (Anderson, & Rainie, 2018).

Internet Consumption and Social Media

The internet tends to be a good leveler of a smartphone or digital use within the United States. Less than 60% of senior citizens (ages >65) are conversant with and use the internet using their smartphones. The percentages are comparable all through other age groups; with 92% of teens, 97% of young adults (18-29 years), 94% of the mid-lifers (30-49%) and 88% older adults (50-64%) accessing the internet through their smartphones (Anderson, & Rainie, 2018). However, how the internet is used tends to vary across the age groups. While older users seek financial information online or visit government websites using smartphones, young adults and teenagers under age 30 access the internet using the phone to, play, shop, socialize, conduct business and perhaps find different information (Anderson & Rainie 2018). Although this gap is narrowing according to Pew Research with activities such as search engines and emails being increasingly used by all online age groups, there are still differences caused by the use of the phone.

Another area where there is a generational gap is the use of smartphones on social media. Though the percentage of adults who use social media (72%) is not much different from the youngsters (81%); however, there is a difference in the type of social media applications that is favored by these (Anderson, & Rainie, 2018). adults dominate social media applications such as Tumblr, Instagram, and Pinterest, while youngsters, especially teens and young adults, seem more prevalent in Facebook, WhatsApp, IMO, and twitter (Gafni, & Geri, 2013). While adolescents actively seek new friendships, adults are mostly passive or semi-active users of social media; they typically add contacts only on request (Gafni, & Geri, 2013).

In most cases, adults use social media to maintain existing relationships. In contrast, youngsters use the social media platform as a conversation space and an outlet for self-expression, mainly aimed at creating new relationships (Bhattacharyya, 2017). Therefore, adults tend to have fewer contacts with a third of the adults in social media admitting to having a family as their primary contact group. On the contrary, only 10% to 15% of adolescents reported having family in their social media contact list (Anderson, & Rainie, 2018). Although both the adults and adolescents post on their social media using their smartphones, the type of material they post also differs (Riva, 2018). Generally, teens post fewer photos on social media sites, for instance, Instagram, again as teens tend to post more selfies than adults, which is directly related to the fact that they click more selfies than adults (Gafni, & Geri, 2013). Youngsters also appear to post material that depicts emotion or mood and like or follow topics, which are geared towards attracting more followers on contrary adults post under items that included locations, social, nature, people and arts, photos, or design (Curtis et al., 2019).

In many cases, it is believed that youngsters use their smartphones riskier on social network sites since they share more information about themselves than is safe and care little about their privacy (Gafni, & Geri, 2013). However, teens have been found to make better use of the privacy settings in their smartphones compared to adults; this may be because they tend to separate their offline identity from their online status to manage their reputation (Curtis et al., 2019). The other areas where reality defies expectations are online gaming and online shopping, with adults increasingly adopting mobile commerce; at least one in four mobile shapers in the United States is over the age of 55 (Curtis et al., 2019).

Video Gaming and Play Station

Sony launched online gaming to the PlayStation 2 in the year 2000 (Anderson, & Rainie, 2018). For many millennial males, this was a massive standard shift, prompting from four-player Mario Kart or Goldeneye on Nintendo 64 to playing call of duty against thousands of players around the world (Duggan, 2013). However, for the youngsters, this game-changing innovation approximately coincided with their birth. The younger generation tends to grow up with a controller in their hand with a high-speed internet connection at the ready and a social group around them always prepared to skip on the rules (Duggan, 2013). On the other hand, millennials talk about the latest cheat codes or latest games when they were growing up; they relied on word-of-mouth, gaming magazines, or AOL chat rooms (Keogh, 2014). However, when it comes to communicating about games, this behavior has also significantly evolved with the youngsters having devoted social platforms and YouTube videos, like Twitch, where games are live-streamed and chatted about in real-time (Bhattacharyya, 2017). With such extreme innovation in the gaming space, it was evident that the role that video games played within the lives of Gen Z males has also evolved. According to a study by Whistle, on Nerdy to Norm (Gen Z Connects via Gaming), 68% of Gen Z males admitted that video gaming is a crucial part of their identity. For the younger generation, video gaming transcends a hobby, a vital facet of their socia...