The Digital Generational Divide: BabyBoomers Are Not Old!

That's a screen capture I grabbed from the Morgan Stanley March presentation and analysis flagged by Tech Crunch the other day.   The idea that "email is for old people" is nothing new - I've written about this several times here.   What is most relevant for nonprofits is how this will manifest itself in the workplace - this was the whole topic of discussion at the Minnesota Nonprofits Conference.

I am a proud member of the baby boomers generation (2nd cohort).  I was introducing a colleague who is of my generation to social networking and showed him LinkedIn - and it was really appealing.  Sailed over any objections.  But I tweeted a comment like "Linked In is a great way to introduce older baby boomers to social networking."   A follower politely told me that calling baby boomers old was offensive.   I don't think that's what I mean - because I'm one too!

I guess I refuse to think of myself as "old"

Anyway, I happened to come across this awesome list of Learning Games to Change the World and clicked through to the Karma Tycoon described as

Karma Tycoon rocks the gaming world by offering you a thrilling ride through the world of social entrepreneurship as you earn Karma in virtual communities across the US.

I strongly resisted the urge to set up an account because I have to finish planning out my trip to Austrailia, so I clicked over to the curriculum page. The tag line is:

this is the site for old people who want to help young people do something

Hmm .. there's that word again.

All this to remind you that I'm giving away a copy of the book Mobilizing Generation 2.0 and you have less than 24 hours to leave a comment in that post if you want chance to win.

Comments

[Mathieu Plourde]

A network is valuable when people you need to be connected with use it. Even though my dad has a Facebook account (he's 62), I'm the main reason why he's using it. None of his professional contacts are on Facebook.
We all have a different understanding of what a network is. And unless there is a very formal community structure in a particular network that pushes for one way of networking over another, that communication channel will emerge as needed.
Email is still a pretty efficient way to communicate, and with web archives and RSS, every individual can choose his/her own way of accessing the information. Isn't that what Web 2.0 all about?

[Beth Kanter]

Mathieu:

This is funny - my dad is on facebook too - he's 86. He tried because I helped him. What got him to visit is when I posted a video of his grandchildren on profile. But in the end his reaction was
COGNITIVE OVERLOAD
http://tinyurl.com/4fqo56

[Mathieu Plourde]

Cognitive overload is definitely an issue. Being a pre-digital native post genXer, I have been use to scan through information to find what is relevant to me. I have been exposed to music videos and video games, where you have to absorb what you can, or try again.

Boomers are more used to linear content. An hour-long newscast, a 25 minute documentary, a two hour long movie, a book, a magazine, newspaper... Switching to another mode of information intake has to be overwhelming sometimes.

[Cathy]

>>Boomers are more used to linear content. An hour-long newscast, a 25 minute documentary, a two hour long movie, a book, a magazine, newspaper... Switching to another mode of information intake has to be overwhelming sometimes.<<

Oh, please. Boomers are hardly overwhelmed by this. We started using the Internet back when the gen-xers were in high school or grade school. We were using it for work long before you were. We're used to it, we know how to use it, we adapt easily to new stuff. It's just not a big deal.

Anyone who thinks boomers are "old" should go see the Rolling Stones movie!

Rock on....