Generational Differences? Real or same old same old
Trainers, and others often speak of there being significant generational differences that affect how people learn and interact. That’s the pop psych view but it may not be true at all.
Just for thought provocation, there are actually two different “schools” regarding generational differences. The most common one (e.g. popular one) is that different generations are indeed different and so are labelled — boomer, generation-x, etc.
I’d think that most people on this list accept this view. I don’t (or not much).
The other view is based on research by David Foot and published in Boom, Bust and Echo. His work suggests that the APPARENT Differences between generations have to do to life stages.
So, Foot’s suggestion (if I understand it) is that if you look at a baby boomer at the age of 20, and a 20 year old today, they will exhibit far more similarities than differences because they are at the same life stage. Of course one can’t do that without a time machine.
I’ve seen Foot interviewed, and found his evidence and logic exceedingly compelling.
So, the upshot is a little interesting with respect to this conversation. It’s not so much that a 20 year old today has changed from let’s say a 20 year old from 20 years ago. It’s that WE (now 50 years old) have changed, since we aren’t 20 anymore and we’re in a different life stage.
The simplest way to explain it is in a short sentence:
We become our parents, when we arrive at their age(s).
Hope that’s clear.
PS. Before someone jumps at me claiming that there ARE (or have to be generational differences), I’m not saying they don’t exist. I AM saying that they are less important and less pervasive than most people think,
and many of them are not “fundamental”.
They just appear to be because…well, we’ve changed into old farts.