Hi, I’m from Gen-Y II

January 11, 2010 by Pearl 

gen-y_ii

Teenagers and young adults are constantly caught in a whirlwind of socializing via mobile phones, instant messages, online video games and social-networking websites. In my previous blog, you read about the decline of nonverbal communication among Gen-Y today.

Further on this subject, Jeffrey Zaslow of the Wall Street Journal suggests that “there are a host of new questions that need to be addressed in schools, in the workplace and at home.”

Among these new questions is, “how much work can ‘hyper-socializing’ students or employees really accomplish if they are holding multiple conversations with friends via text-messaging, or are obsessively checking Facebook?”

According to Zaslow’s article, The Greatest Generation (of Networkers), there are some that argue that this generation can accomplish a great deal because they are gifted with the ability to multitask. Their attachment to technology and willingness to remain connected can serve their employers well.

Ben Bajarin, a technology analyst at Creative Strategies in Campbell, California, argues that “because young people are so adept at multimedia socializing, their social skills are actually strengthened. They’re good at ‘managing conversations’ and getting to the pithy essence of an issue, which will help them in the workplace.”

While their older colleagues waste time stuck in fruitless meetings or engaged in long phone conversations, young people can express themselves in one-sentence text messages. Mr. Bajarin says. “They know how to optimize and prioritize.”

The operative word is “prioritize.” Multitasking is productive, but this new generation of hyper-socializing young adults should take advice from older generations by putting aside electronic connection devices and connect interpersonally. As the Bible tells us, “When I was a child I spoke as a child I understood as a child I thought as a child; but when I became a man I put away childish things.”

Multitask and priortize.

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