So the song goes - it's the opening line of The Greatest Love of All, by Stevie Wonder I think (consider me at home and open to correction on this one, though I'm already aware that Whitney Houston covered it). Social anthropologists tell us that in times of rapid change, people look to the younger generations. That's an interesting thought. What ways do we actually do that, given that our world is certainly a rapidly changing one?
Well, there's the obvious stuff, such as when parents get their kids to show them how to use the computer. Then there's the next layer - when adults eagerly pick up on stuff the kids use as being the next great thing. I'm thinking of Facebook, Myspace, YouTube and all that. Once they were glorified chat rooms, now any self-respecting web marketing consultant will urge you to establish your presence on them. The same could apply to anything. Pop music, for example. What started off as the music of the devil is now an essential component of the national economy. So the methods and substance of business become increasingly shaped by the young.
I find myself wondering what my point is here. I suppose it's that maybe this has something to do with how those of us who aren't quite as youthful any more find the young at large more unsettling, while also generally seeking to have closer relationships with our kids than we felt our own parents did with us. (Generalisation index set to maximum here, but maybe you get the picture.)
What do you reckon?
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2 comments:
Hum - not sure Mark. Of course things move on. But not certain about the causality.
"The methods and substance of business become increasing shaped by the young." Any evidence? I don't see BP, Thai Airways, Railtrack, Pfizer, Ford, HMV, Tesco etc. being shaped by the young. I think they are shaped by 50-something senior executives supported by/exploiting the drive and ambition of 20 and 30-something wannabe senior execs. Of course there is a nod to a 'market sector' - the Ford StreetKa eg. But hardly being 'shaped by the young'.
Perhaps ageing (something I have experience of!) is partly defined as the exchange of energy for wisdom - or 'experience' anyway. So the young have the energy. The older folk believe they know what will work - the wisdom. Sometimes they are right (many times they are not).
So - "relating to the next generation". There is a natural tension - the younger ones believe they know how to do it, the older ones believe they have tried it and have learned how to do it. So - the old folk say - "listen - do it this way, I know it will work for you", whilst the young folk say "no - that's the way it has always been done - I have a better idea!"
And the tragedy is those occasions when the old folks are right!
By the way - just to complicate things - our rational observation of this is clouded, as our perspective shifts as we progress along our own journeys!
Hi Keltic!
What jumped out at me was the idea of young people being heard more when there's more change going on. I'm sure you'd agree that over the last half century or so the young have come to have a much greater influence over things like music and fashion, and political thinking too. Corporates advertise at the young and also the grown-up kid - look at car adverts. I mean, buy a Transformer to get you to work?!
Basically, I think you could say that where the young used to aspire to be adult (or were told they should), now the older generations aspire to be young (or are told they should). And that means that those execs take their decisions accordingly. We've had Lad Culture, now we're seeing more and more Big Kid Culture.
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