The generation gap all too often expresses itself as a technology gap. A survey of white collar workers (most of them in the legal profession) commissioned by NexisLexis offers a glimpse at changing attitudes towards technology between Baby Boomers, Gen Xers and Gen Yers. (Full survey embedded below). One thing Baby Boomers apparently really hate is when the rest of us are not paying attention during meetings and instead checking our e-mail or Twitter accounts on our mobile phones and laptops. A full 69 percent of Baby Boomers surveyed agree that “PDAs and mobile phones contribute to the decline of proper workplace etiquette,” while only 47 percent of Gen Y workers see what is the big deal. (By the way, who says “PDA” anymore? I am going to go out on a limb here and guess that it must have been a Baby Boomer who put together the survey).
Pretty much everybody knows that using a laptop or Blackberry during meetings is downright rude. Even 57 percent of Gen Y respondents think that it is “impolite” (compared to 67 percent of Baby Boomers). But the Gen Y workers surveyed can deal with it better. Only 49 percent find such behavior “distracting,” while 68 percent of Baby Boomers did. And so it goes, younger workers also tend to find such multi-tasking during meetings more productive (Gen Y: 35% versus Boomers: 20%) and efficient (Gen Y: 35%; Boomers: 17%). While Gen Xers find them to be the most unavoidable (29% versus 21% for Gen Y and 17% for Boomers).
Perhaps that is because we rely more on e-mail than Gen Y workers The average Boomer gets the most e-mails per day (69), followed by Gen X (63), and then Gen Y (40). Those number seem awfully low to me. I get more than 69 e-mails an hour (Granted, I am weird).
My advice to anyone who finds Blackberry or laptop use during meetings rude or distracting: have fewer meetings or get to the point faster. Invariably, the conversations people are having on their laptops, iPhones, and Blackberries are increasingly more interesting than the ones that are going on in the room.
Tech Gap Survey – Get more Information Technology
PDA = Public Display of ummm.. Annoyance.
I checked my work email account: 482 messages were delivered yesterday. Probably many more blocked by the spam filter.
More than 20 in a personal account put me over 500 for the day. And add in Tweets and txts, and it’s well over 1000.
What kind of lightweights are only getting 40/day?
I should add.. i am a late baby boomer. I guess that would be Gen W ?
My thoughts exactly. I’m around 500/day and the same generation as you.
Hasn’t attention to etiquette always been a characteristic of older generations? My four-year-old sometimes forgets to look at people she’s talking to and will halt mid-sentence if the cat walks by, but my failure to do this doesn’t make me somehow inferior. Entertaining yourself with toys and baubles while another person talks to you is only acceptable to people who rarely are on the “giving” end of a presentation — a position that is probably also reasonably correlated with age.
Could it be that the better correlation is playing with blackberries and listening to presentations versus paying attention and giving them?
Is multi tasking causing Attention Deficit Disorder?
not quite the same thing.
I sat at a conference and tweeted the proceedings on my iPhone just the other week. I wasn’t being rude, and I most certainly was paying attention, probably more so than someone sitting passively in the audience because I was actually thinking about what was being said, reflecting on it, and recording my internal dialogue – same as taking notes, just on a phone.
Is that playing with baubles? and if you are “giving” a presentation, maybe you need to consider things a little differently – if someone’s not paying attention and playing on their phone – ask them why and address their concerns instead of getting upset.
Technology has created serious problems ie downsized newspapers, unemployment. We truly need to look at the larger problems. Does having a PDA, or whatever that thing is called, solve problems. Twenty years ago our School Board went wacko because one of the Board Members was knitting during a School Board Meeting. But then we are Midwesterners and we have LOTS of cars for sale so what do we know?
I think it’s rude that baby boomers are the cause of most of the earth’s problems starting with the environment!
Yeah, Yeah, Yeah. The generation before us did a big number on us too. They invented cars and planes. They provided employment for millions of people.
i think it’s rude too. and think people should be fired/let-go for doing it. in this economy you only want a-listers who are there to kick ass and take names; if they can’t pay attention; they need to go home.
The problem isn’t technology and people using these devices during meetings aren’t necessarily “playing” or being rude. Your framework of expectations has everything to do with your experience. If you believe action A is rude, then guess what, if you witness action A, you will interpret it as rude whether that’s actually what happened or not. Who’s the problem in that equation?
Anyone, younger or older, who insists on trying to maintain some rigid, out-dated model of operation is not going to fare well as time marches on. The entire way we interact and engage and create, is changing – it has changed.
Fight it if you want, but you’re only setting yourself up for more frustration. These new ways of interaction and operation are not hard to adopt, even for Boomers, but I think the level of visibility they create and the spotlight on one’s authenticity is more frightening than most of the old-model fans are willing to admit.
What do guns have to do with any of this?
Did you even read the post you’re commenting on, or did you just skim through while catching up on your tweets?
What does this mean?
“…the level of visibility they create and the spotlight on one’s authenticity is more frightening than most of the old-model fans are willing to admit.”
OK. A good discussion at the dinner table has resulted in the opinion that if a student is using technology for class note taking then it is good. So suppose we figure out what the situation is. It is rude to be texting someone during a meeting if it is not note taking for the meeting or emailing as a news reporter would do to have copy in for editing in a timely fashion.
it is not just about meetings . it is about any social interaction which is often interrupted.
wow. I’m not even a baby boomer, but that is incredibly rude.
Does anyone know which ages fit into what group ?
Wikipedia: Gen X is birthdates of April, 1964 – March, 1974
So…. (my guess:)
Baby Boomers are 1954 – 1964 (i.e. the ten years prior), and Gen Y are 1974 – 1984 births (i.e. the ten years after).
Baby Boomers are 1946 – 60 ish. There was an enormous population explosion with the end of World War II
dang… I knew that…
temporary brain cramp had me trying to justify the 10-year span, by moving WW II to the 50’s! geesh. My bad.
Wikipedia says Gen Y is ‘80 to ‘96, give or take.
So maybe ‘74 to ‘80 is the lost generation. which included my high school years.. hopefully I didn’t contribute to that generation!
Isn’t a generation twenty years
“My advice to anyone who finds Blackberry or laptop use during meetings rude or distracting: have fewer meetings or get to the point faster.”
What kind of lame advice is this? How about enforcing a rule saying no Blackberries during meetings?
Eric:
You are an example of the inconsiderate assholes that think the world revolves around them.
If you can take the time to check your email during a meeting, you probably aren’t contributing much anyway. You shouldn’t be in the meeting – you’re wasting all the participants’ time.
You must consider reading “Twitter Clatter” on webcoherence.org
http://webcoher...witter-clatter/
Here’s a theory… the discrepancy might have something to do with who is running meetings. If I’m a baby boomer, I’m more likely to be the one trying to communicate a point, and getting annoyed at all of the young ‘uns who aren’t listening to what I’m saying. If I’m a Gen-Xer or Gen-Yer, I’m more likely to be sitting in the audience checking my Facebook and wondering when the old fart at the front of the room is going to wind it up.
Wow, there are some interesting comments being made. As a member of Gen X I do find it rude to be checking email and Twittering during meetings but I can say I’m guilty of it. It is a distraction and I don’t pay as complete attention to the meetings I’m in. At the same time I’m so busy that I multi task automatically out of habit. I’ve tried to make a change recently by still bring my computer to meetings but leaving it closed unless I’m waiting on something urgent.
that shit is rude.
if you’re in a 1-2 hour meeting with 20 top executives that’s prob a $5-10,000 meeting (salaries and such). Act as such.
Your emails can wait.
Nowadays many people use their cell phones/blackberries/iphones as a security blanket when they feel nervous or insecure.
I guess I’ll have to turn down the sound a little during my WOW sessions to do my part in complying with established company meeting ettiquette.
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