I knew the day would come. I just didn’t know when. Someone would call me old – and mean it! This was not my children teasing me about my age (which, by the way, is only 51!!). This was not my younger co-workers joking about my age (in a most friendly way, of course). No, no, this was a student in my Communications and Society class this evening. She is a traditional-aged college junior.
During small group discussions about an upcoming project on the multi-generational workplace of today, we were focused on the many different areas of communication those differences can impact. The conversation turned to technology. ‘Young student’ looked at me and said,
“Old people like you, who didn’t grow up with computers, have a real hard time using them as well as younger people.”
Ouch! I had a hard time focusing on anything beyond “Old people like you.” I happen to be pretty good with computers. I’m more than capable in MS Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Visio, etc. I’m learning Publisher. I blog. I tweet. I’m on numerous social networking sites. I can “.ning” with the best of them!
Then, I remembered the topic at hand; generational differences. This is how she sees my generation. Not at all tech savvy. This is how people her age see people my age at work; having a hard time using computers as well as people her age. Good lesson for me to keep in mind as I work in our multi-generational office.
I must admit though, I chuckled much of the way home about how our group meeting ended. Guess who is putting together the visual for our presentation next week? I am! The other three students don’t know too much about PowerPoint.
Good thing there are old people like me!!
