Blogging is a very new venture for me.
Consequently I have been struggling to come up with a topic for this fourth post.
My instinctive nature is reserved so putting ideas and opinions out in the world is counter intuitive.
As a result when starting to settle on a topic the mind goes round in circles.
Then self defeats itself because it generates the thought
‘Who would want to read about that topic’
Finally I said to myself it’s time to grab the bull by the horns and just get on
with it and write something to keep up a measure of momentum.
Having recently come across the slogan ‘OK Boomer’ and its implied criticism of
some of we ‘older’ folk I thought it relevant to take a closer look.
To consider where we have come from in terms of technology and historic events
that might seem totally irrelevant to those who use the phrase.
Strictly speaking I am not a ‘Boomer’, those born between 1946 and 1964, having
been born in 1944. That likely makes me even more of a ‘fossil’ in the eyes of
some.
However I believe there is often limited connection between your chronological
age and your physical and mental age. Some folk are ‘old’ at 30 years while
others are still in their prime at 80.
This makes broad general classifications of limited value other than for those
who want to make use of generalisations about certain groups or use the grouping
for some statistical reason.
The Generational Divide
Differences in ideas and opinions between generations have always been with us.
Sometimes more marked than others. We are all captive to our history to some
extent.
Or to put it another way ‘We are a result of all the decisions we have made in
the past’. And the older you become, hopefully, the more decisons you have made.
Some decisons are made for you, especially when you are young. Some decisions
are forced upon you by circumstances and history. Though at the time it has yet
to become history.
If we stand back and take a longer view from, say, around 1900 this likely
covers the era of the parents or grandparents of the ‘Boomer’ generation.
The world had some turbulent history from 1900 until 1946.
World War I (1914 – 1918), the Spanish Flu pandemic (1918 – 1920), the Great
Depression (1929 – 1933) and World War II (1939 – 1946) to name just some of
them.
These now historic events, and the fact that life was generally much tougher for
the average person then, undoubtedly had significant formative impacts on those
who lived through them. The same people who are the parents of the ‘Boomer’
generation.
It has been said that any event before you are born is history. This is
definitely true but your parents will often imprint you with their view and
interpretation of things based on their own experiences. Hence the generational
divide continues.
Rapidly Changing Technology
As well as significant historic events there was a parallel rapid change in
technology happening on many fronts.
For example in 1900 for there was no:
Air Conditioning, TV, Washing Machines, Affordable cars, Airlines, Helicopters,
Ball Point pens, Penicillan, Transistors, Cornflakes, Crossword Puzzles,
Electricity in the home, Personal Computers or Internet, Cell Phones, GPS
to name but a few things that we now take for granted.
Even in my lifetime I have seen significant changes. I can recall what are now
historic events like the first satellite, Sputnik, being launched by the
Russians on 4 October 1957, orbiting for three weeks before its batteries died.
This was to usher in a huge shift in communications world wide.
In the 1950’s it was very difficult to make a telephone connection to the other
side of the world. Occasionally my father had to make business calls from New
Zealand to England.
The exercise to connect was challenging. First you had to book the call with an
operator. Then wait for them to call back with the connection, be passed through
one or two other operators until you got to the call recipient. There were no
satellites then.
That was only the beginning. The conversation was even more challenging. There
were pops, squeals swooshing and whirrs on the line all of which distorted the
speech making it difficult to understand the person at the other end.
The connection was made via a combination of links – regular phone lines,
undersea cables and some radio links. Most of them seeming to conspire against
the parties trying to talk.
Today a cell phone gives you access to the whole world just by dialling a series
of numbers. Even the term ‘dial’ is history with most phones now having keypads.
As if to reinforce these comments I made three calls to the United Kingdom last week.
Not a single operator involved just +44 and the number required and you are
connected with crystal clear speech.
The Point of All This
While the world is now very different and there will always be generational
differences neither party is necessarily right or wrong. Things are just
different.
Personally I would agree that some things are significantly tougher for the
younger ones today. But now there are a range of options and opportunities that
just did not exist when I was starting out. We should grasp them for all they
are worth.
One of the GREAT stories of our time is the online world. It has shrunk the
world in both time and distance in a way never before seen.
An individual can compete with large established business from a home office.
With a PC or laptop and the internet the digital world has worked a miracle in
communication, reach and presentation for anyone who is connected.
Amazon was only founded in 1994. Today it dominates many areas of the online
market. The internet can be used to create income streams that were not
available 20 or even 10 years ago.
There are many online options to choose from some of which will be the topics of
other posts.
A Final Word
I trust that this gives you an appreciation of how the world has changed and
that not all Boomers only look out for themselves.
If you need more information or help I would be pleased to assist. Just drop me
a message in the contact link below.
Talk to you again soon
Ian Whyte
PS
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foundation and good support. John Thornhill is one person who can provide this.
Make sure that you check him out here.
PPS
Tony Shepherd is another valuable person well worth checking out.
He has a differnet approach and a FREE report that gives real value.