Recently I was driving to a meeting with a colleague and he mentioned something very interesting. “Today’s kids just can’t communicate”. It wasn’t something that I had thought of, and so wanted to know how come he felt so strongly about it.
He went on to explain that he was working with several youngsters and they were just unable to communicate effectively. They couldn’t compose sentences, write correct e-mails, or frame decent letters. I have 2 teenage daughters and all I see them doing is communicating. Either on their phone, sms, bbm, e-mail, facebook, twitter, …
I completely disagree with my colleague. The audience, which is us is probably the one that is unable to get it. Think about this. They are able to get across exactly what they want to say, in under 160 characters. It’s almost like they have their own language. Just as the traditional Englishmen wonder what language the world that speaks English speaks, we too are not able to appreciate the power of this new language.
Today’s generation or Gen-X as they are popularly referred to can teach us quite a few tricks on communication. This generation has probably made more leaps in communication than any other that has preceded them. Most of us parents complain that they don’t talk to us and we don’t understand them. Think about this. Isn’t this exactly what our parents thought of us ?
The good news is that we’re quickly catching up. School teachers now use Facebook and BBM (Blackerry Messenger) to communicate with their students. And its mainly about assignments. They are expected to e-mail their assignments, thereby losing the primary excuse of “My mom threw it out by mistake”, or “My dog ate it”. Students then come up with “Oh, I sent the e-mail. You didn’t receive it. Must have been a typo”, and trap themselves when the teacher retorts with a “No problem”, forward it “Now”.
The major negative that I see from all of this connected or online social activity is its addictive nature. Kids prefer chatting and playing online than actually going out. If they are able to balance their online social life with their offline social life, they should be well equipped to face the world. Both online and off.
He went on to explain that he was working with several youngsters and they were just unable to communicate effectively. They couldn’t compose sentences, write correct e-mails, or frame decent letters. I have 2 teenage daughters and all I see them doing is communicating. Either on their phone, sms, bbm, e-mail, facebook, twitter, …
I completely disagree with my colleague. The audience, which is us is probably the one that is unable to get it. Think about this. They are able to get across exactly what they want to say, in under 160 characters. It’s almost like they have their own language. Just as the traditional Englishmen wonder what language the world that speaks English speaks, we too are not able to appreciate the power of this new language.
Today’s generation or Gen-X as they are popularly referred to can teach us quite a few tricks on communication. This generation has probably made more leaps in communication than any other that has preceded them. Most of us parents complain that they don’t talk to us and we don’t understand them. Think about this. Isn’t this exactly what our parents thought of us ?
The good news is that we’re quickly catching up. School teachers now use Facebook and BBM (Blackerry Messenger) to communicate with their students. And its mainly about assignments. They are expected to e-mail their assignments, thereby losing the primary excuse of “My mom threw it out by mistake”, or “My dog ate it”. Students then come up with “Oh, I sent the e-mail. You didn’t receive it. Must have been a typo”, and trap themselves when the teacher retorts with a “No problem”, forward it “Now”.
The major negative that I see from all of this connected or online social activity is its addictive nature. Kids prefer chatting and playing online than actually going out. If they are able to balance their online social life with their offline social life, they should be well equipped to face the world. Both online and off.
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