Airtel ran an ad campaign a few years back with the tag-line "Impatience is the new life" and I couldn't help but agree with them. If you had to summarize the new generation in one word, it would have to be IMPATIENCE.
Impatience to be promoted is a glittering example. Almost every week, I see at least one instance of an employee going a little beyond the call of duty by staying a little late, and lo behold - talk of being overdue for promotions begins! Impatience while driving is another case in point. So what if it's bumper to bumper traffic? I'm still allowed to bully people and cut lanes even though it won't save me anytime practically right? Wrong! Impatience while using gadgets is probably the biggest of them all. Whether it's a browser on a laptop or an app on a hand held, a half second pause/freeze is enough to produce a sigh of despair - and god forbid the damn thing ever hung - it would then be time to discard and buy a new one. What about impatience with our health and body? A few days of going to the gym after being aloof for a lifetime, and we expect to be able to run marathons and posses a perfect physique!
The new generation is growing up on "Do less and expect more and expect immediately". Somehow, this all just seems wrong. I like to think of myself as a mix of old school and gen-x and by that I mean I have the right to claim superiority over my elders and my youngsters. Convenient eh? But it's true. I know how to google for information and have it in seconds, yet I also remember what is was like to have to flip the pages of a real dictionary to find a word meaning. I appreciate mobile phones but I also know that I got by fine for 18 years without them. I think we (the current twenty year olds) are unique in Indian history, in the sense that we've seen a pre foreign influx India and yet also seen the post foreign influx India at a young enough age to have picked up it's subtleties in ways that our parents' generation will never be able to. I fear for children growing up today who've never stood in a queue to pay a bill or to buy a movie ticket.
Have I already become the old generation that is afraid of change? Only time will tell
Three days ago, an old school friend, now living in a different timezone, challenged me to a game of correspondence chess over the internet. We play our move whenever we get the time, and wait for the other to see the email notification and reply. This is quite a shift from the usual form of online chess where everything is timed and games are over in a matter of minutes. The waits between moves is really quite a buzz and makes me want to think all that harder about every single move I make. This feeling is what prompted me to write this. I too am guilty of impatience, but I'm trying my best to change!!
Impatience to be promoted is a glittering example. Almost every week, I see at least one instance of an employee going a little beyond the call of duty by staying a little late, and lo behold - talk of being overdue for promotions begins! Impatience while driving is another case in point. So what if it's bumper to bumper traffic? I'm still allowed to bully people and cut lanes even though it won't save me anytime practically right? Wrong! Impatience while using gadgets is probably the biggest of them all. Whether it's a browser on a laptop or an app on a hand held, a half second pause/freeze is enough to produce a sigh of despair - and god forbid the damn thing ever hung - it would then be time to discard and buy a new one. What about impatience with our health and body? A few days of going to the gym after being aloof for a lifetime, and we expect to be able to run marathons and posses a perfect physique!
The new generation is growing up on "Do less and expect more and expect immediately". Somehow, this all just seems wrong. I like to think of myself as a mix of old school and gen-x and by that I mean I have the right to claim superiority over my elders and my youngsters. Convenient eh? But it's true. I know how to google for information and have it in seconds, yet I also remember what is was like to have to flip the pages of a real dictionary to find a word meaning. I appreciate mobile phones but I also know that I got by fine for 18 years without them. I think we (the current twenty year olds) are unique in Indian history, in the sense that we've seen a pre foreign influx India and yet also seen the post foreign influx India at a young enough age to have picked up it's subtleties in ways that our parents' generation will never be able to. I fear for children growing up today who've never stood in a queue to pay a bill or to buy a movie ticket.
Have I already become the old generation that is afraid of change? Only time will tell
Three days ago, an old school friend, now living in a different timezone, challenged me to a game of correspondence chess over the internet. We play our move whenever we get the time, and wait for the other to see the email notification and reply. This is quite a shift from the usual form of online chess where everything is timed and games are over in a matter of minutes. The waits between moves is really quite a buzz and makes me want to think all that harder about every single move I make. This feeling is what prompted me to write this. I too am guilty of impatience, but I'm trying my best to change!!
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