There was a time when the parameters for generation gap were measured by one’s choice of clothes, music and lifestyle. But the current generation seems to attach a lot of importance to technology and electronic gadgets. There was a time when children used to flaunt their discmans. Then it was all about the iPod. Then the iTouch, and now
it’s about iPads and playbooks. Children these days have accounts on social networking sites as early as 10 years. Due to this, children who cannot keep up with the pace consider themselves old-fashioned. Exposure to a whole new ever-evolving world of the Internet also leads to early maturity among these young adults and they have fixed notions of what is “cool” and “uncool”.
It is not possible to erase this gap, although you can certainly bridge it. Parties on either sides of the bridge need to be told that they have things to share with each other. Parents and teachers should make an effort to keep pace with the kids by updating themselves and remain on the same page as the kids.
The writer is a reputed counsellor