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Never Trust Anyone Under 40

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By Jim Dyal

The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 15, 2008

I never believed in a "generation gap," even though I was brought up in the '60s when all the teens were pot-smoking flower children compared to their parents who fought the Hun and made the world safe for everyone.

The one fly in that ointment, however, is that their grandparents also had fought the Hun and thought their children were all going to hell for listening to big band music or, worse, that dreaded rock n' roll. The generations always complain about their lack of understanding of the next one, but the truth is they were always more alike than different.

But now, I think there really is a significant difference between people who are in their 50s and people who are 40 and younger. If you take a look at someone turning 40 this year, they were born in 1968 and were 18 years old in 1986. What's significant about that? That's about the year the personal computer entered the lexicon of everyday life. It's also about the same time we started using microwaves and cell phones.

People of my generation grew up aching to go outside and play after school. Our recreational world consisted of skateboarding or playing football, baseball and basketball. The 40-year-olds grew up with Atari, blasting the heck out of space invaders in "Missile Command."

I have always felt like I really failed as a dad. I dreamed of taking my kids to the golf course and walking nine holes, being able to talk, compete, and have this idyllic father-son relationship. However, my kids would rather sit inside and play video games. So, I went to play golf, and they sat in front of the television killing aliens. This is a stark contrast to one of my buddies who has two small children and is in his late 30s. He can't wait to get home and play with his kids. The difference is they sit in front of the TV and blast aliens together.

So, I've concluded that what we have now is a technological generation gap. It's not that my generation is technologically dysfunctional. I think it's just that we view technology as a tool and not as an integral, indispensable part of everyday life. Also, the need for instant information and immediate gratification is so profoundly different between the generations.

The cell phone has to be the primary example of this. I use a cell phone for business. If I'm not in the office and someone needs to reach me, they can on the cell phone. I saw some kids riding bikes the other day, with one hand on the handle bar, the other on a cell phone. Now, they were riding about 20 feet apart and could have just chatted, but they were talking to each other on their cell phones. In a few years they'll be doing that in a car and paying little attention to what's going on around them.

The interesting thing is that the technological generation gap apparently only exists between my generation and those 40 and younger. So I guess the 40-year-olds will have to go back to complaining about the music their kids listen to and the way they dress, just like their grandparents did.

Jim Dyal is a real estate developer.

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