I had to interview my wife for the 18-35 generation, not because she only has a couple of years left in that age range and not just out of convenience (as she is usually right downstairs). It is because she is always on her computer. My wife has been a graphic designer for ten years now and has two small businesses related to that trade. One of those businesses designs and prints things like advertisements and customized greeting cards for corporations (GM, Zurich, Freightliner, even Halliburton--she'll do anything for a buck). That business is almost completely online. Orders are done mostly online, proofs are sent online, orders are sent to the printer online, and most other correspondence is done via email. Since that business is seasonal and quite slow in general these days, she does freelance work for a few steady local clients. Almost all of that information is sent via the internet as well. Once in a while a product example will come in the regular mail. Her third job (yes, she has three) is real estate broker. She is fairly new to the field so she has to do a lot of advertising. She has constructed a monthly newsletter which she sends through Constant Contact, a service that allows you to track who is actually opening the email and who is actually clicking the links within it. Also, she does all of her property searches, comparative market analyses, and general correspondence via the internet. I realize this is the long version of what my wife does but it illustrates just how much she uses the internet. She is obviously very comfortable communicating in the internet by now, but she is very careful with what she sends and spends a lot of time proofing what she writes, not just for accuracy but to make sure that the message will not be misinterpreted. She says this is especially true with new clients with whom she hasn't had much correspondence with. Overall, my wife, while she says she doesn't have an infatuation with technology and the internet, says she is grateful for it. The internet has allowed her to have a lucrative business (or three) that she enjoys, and all from the comfort of home. She doesn't have to get up at 6 am to get ready for work. She doesn't have to get dressed up and commute to an office. In all, the internet has allowed her to create her own preferred lifestyle.
For the 36-60 generation, I interviewed my mom. She has been a nurse for the last twenty years, and for the last ten she has wandered around the U.S. taking different temporary travel positions. Other than a few rental properties in Northeastern Oregon, she is footloose. She says she uses the internet mostly to check her bank accounts to make sure that rents are being deposited, her paychecks are being deposited, and to check things out at her next destination. She has recently opened a facebook account but she says it's not for her. She says she doesn't like the expectation that she communicate with everyone all the time and she doesn't feel comfortable posting things for everyone to see. She would rather just call someone if she wants to talk to them. In general, my mom likes the convenience of the internet but has no interest in being glued to a computer all day.
Lastly, I interviewed my father in law, as he has recently purchased his first real computer. I say real because he had one for years at his jewelry store but never learned how to use it. He did all of his bookkeeping and kept track of all his records on paper ledgers. He might as well have used the computer and saved the paper because he still managed to screw it all up. He's retired now though and doesn't have to worry about that anymore. Anyway, my wife has him set up with a nice Mac laptop and is slowly teaching him how to do different things. He can now communicate with his family and old friends through email, check his bank account (to make sure Obama isn't shorting him on his social security check to pay for his evil socialist agenda, of course), and download old music. Soon, my wife is going to show him how to burn CDs. My father in law says the internet has made his life worse in that it is just one more thing to deal with. He says he sees its importance and its usefulness but hates that he is now expected to be a part of it. He would rather call his friends and family, go directly to the bank to check on things, and browse the music store for his music. But now it isn't normal to do things the "old-fashioned way." Reluctantly, I have to agree with him in certain ways.
In analyzing the three generations together, I think we can see a definite set of trends: younger people are highly entrenched in the internet for work and daily functioning; middle-aged people rely on it as well but resist at least some of it; and crusty folk like the entertaining aspects but remain somewhat leery and fearful. I'm blatantly generalizing of course, and am pulling from observations outside my three interviews, but, in general, this is what I see. I think Postman comes closest to explaining this trend when he writes about the function of language in society. On page 123 and 124, he writes, "We live deep within the boundaries of our linguistic assumptions and have little sense of how the world looks to those who speak a vastly different tongue. We tend to assume that everyone sees the world in the same way, irrespective of differences in language." I think this has to do with not only different languages but within languages themselves. And, as language is intertwined with our ways of thinking and being, ideologies and values, through it we may begin to understand differences in generational cultures within the greater culture. What I'm trying to say, with some difficulty, is that technology is a part of our language and changes language over time. More specifically, different generations speak different languages--different things make sense to different generations. The youngest people have grown up with computers, the internet, and everything that goes along with. In essence, it is a part of their ways of knowing and being--their language. This becomes less so as people get older.
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