IT and Generations
With a streamlined path of IT penetration into our daily lives, it is vital to consider how people in different generations could be more or less successful while dealing with developments in this area. A conventional wisdom says that younger generations are more likely to engage with IT based on the emergent nature of advanced computing capabilities, Internet and remote communication, which were seen as life-changing characteristics throughout recent decades. Indeed, if measuring generation attitudes versus emerging technology trends, it is unlikely that, for instance, baby boomers born between 1946 and 1964 would be as proficient in IT as millennials born between 1977 to 1993, given the relevance to their outlook, intensions and preferences (Severt, Fjelstul & Breiter, 2013).
As a result, it is reasonable to assume that IT has an impact on how IT adepts would work, or perform their job responsibilities comparing to elder generations.Academic literature suggests to consider a phenomenon of Generation Z, describing a youth born between mid-1990s through the late 2010s. Turner (2015) describes those as digital natives who have not experienced the life without Internet, with an extremely free access to developed technology in the very young age and thus having more explicit access to information that shapes their attitudes and working behavior. In a nutshell, this trend is beneficial for a single generation, while in a broader context, it creates larger gap for two distant generation collaborating in a group or a team.
Family-based relationships, for instance, could be beneficial at this point, since younger generations could transcend their IT knowledge to elderly, thus providing them more opportunities for flawless communication online. In business environment, however, this is more about a conflict of viewpoints, where technological expertise would unlikely to be compensated with on-hand experience to deal with interpersonal conflicts.
References
Severt, K., Fjelstul, J., & Breiter, D. (2013). Information Communication Technologies: Usages and Preferences of Generation Y Students and Meeting Professionals. Journal of Convention & Event Tourism, 14(2), 124-143.
Turner, A. (2015). Generation Z: Technology and Social Interest. Journal of Individual Psychology, 71(2), …
