Debunking the Generation Gap

About six months ago, I stood with my father in my parents’kitchen and confessed to him that I had done what no other in my family haddone: switched from cable TV to internet TV. I explained to him, in rigorousdetail, the gist of the deal: “I’ve got all these channels, and my bill is nowless than half what it used to be.” My father nodded and affirmed that it hadbeen a shrewd decision on my behalf, but he also reflected on his ownentertainment-situation and the generation gap between us, and offered this:

“It makes sense, but, I don’t know. I think that I’m of ageneration that largely is used to, and couldn’t do away with, three, five, andeight.”

Three, five, and eight are the NBC, ABC, and CBS affiliatesin the Cleveland area. I let him know that he could still get broadcastchannels through an alternate method, a suggestion that he politely shruggedoff, and silently reaffirmed his commitment to cable television.

A couple of things about my father: This is a man thattraded our Atari 5200 for a brand-new Nintendo NES console with a gold-plated,special edition Legend of Zelda cartridge to go with it. This is a man who hasno less than seven devices on which he could watch video from his Netflix orAmazon Prime Video accounts. This is a man that switched his Sirius Radioaccount to a paid Spotify account because Sirius’ product and billing model hadbecome too antiquated for him. This is also a man who’s considered at the verytail-end of the Baby Boomer generation.

Now, I’m not saying that my father was wrong in saying thathe’s of a generation that’s used to cable TV, but I think that his exampleilluminates the fact that generational-gap thinking is a totally-imaginedconstruct for today’s workforce. Unless you’re Jeremiah Johnson, growing yourbeard, making your own shoes, communicating with squirrels, and living yourlife in a self-imposed, mountainous exile from today’s workforce, you’re goingto be experienced in societal changes and technological changes, whether it beblatantly obvious or not. You might not use Twitter, but if you’re reading thisarticle, chances are you know what it is, or have heard a news story that usedTwitter as a reference. That’s not necessarily a symptom of age, but more soone of exposure and understanding.

Imagined generational-constructs can separate our workforcewhen it comes to adult learning, and (of course), they tend to bleed into ourlearning design. As content creators and designers, we’resusceptible to the stereotypes and ageism that seem to seep into our(or our clients’) subconscious, and manifest them in development pitfalls and projectroadblocks. In this article, I’m going to look at five of the biggest mythsthat contribute to imagined generation gaps in adult learning. In response to eachof those five myths, I’ll review statistics that contradict and disprove those myths.I’ll also explore five ways to combat those restraining generational constructsin our own learning design.

Also, as a quick note,although age ranges on generation labels are sometimes disputed, for thepurpose of this article, I consider the following: Baby Boomers were bornbetween 1944 and 1964 (54 – 74 years old), Gen Xers were born between 1965 and1979 (39 – 53 years old), and Millennials were born between 1980 and 1994 (38 –24 years old).

Generational learning myths

1. Modern work environments are a Millennial “thing.”
   Theterm “modern work environment” generally conjures up images of Google, Lego, orAmazon workspaces. According to a recent study (see References at the end ofthis article), 51 percent of Millennials preferred this type of modern workenvironment, 42 percent of Gen Xers enjoyed the same, and 49 percent of BabyBoomers preferred a modern work environment, opposed to the standard,cubicle-driven silos. With each generation demographic split nearly 50-50, it couldbe assumed that the workplace preference correlates to learning environmentsand is why classroom learning is still existent in the age of virtual learningenvironments.
2. Millennials are more likely to adopt newtechnology.
   BabyBoomers (and to a lesser-extent, Gen Xers) have a bad rap for being overlytechnology-resistant. On the flip side, early tech adopters are alwaysstereotypically thought of as Millennials connected to tech devices. Butconsider this: In a study (see References) on interest regarding virtual realityand augmented reality, Millennials only made up 44 percent of people interestedin buying virtual reality and/or augmented reality equipment. So, whenconsidering using appropriate tech in your learning pieces or events, keep inmind that resistance might not be based on the participants’ ages.
3. Baby Boomers are more resistant toalternative learning mediums.
   Fornew and alternative learning mediums, like technology, adoption isn’t dependenton age. For example, let’s look at gaming: The largest growing gamingdemographic is women ages 50 – 65, and that includes a year-to-year increase of32%. No other age demographic comes remotely close to that growth (includingteens).
4. Millennials have short attention spans.
   Seenas the group that was most impressionable during the advent of YouTube,smartphones, and iTunes, Millennials are often categorized as having shortattention spans, and helping push the proliferation of microlearning. However,it appears that attention spans have more to do with the presentation of thecontent, and not the consumers’ age: Of monthly podcast listeners, 44 percentwere Millennials, as opposed to 33 percent Gen Xers. The average podcastduration is 22 minutes.
5. Millennials are more adept at social media.
   Oftenlisted as a concern in implementing virtual, social-learning environments,Millennials are often seen as the main consumer and engaging audience of socialmedia. In reality, Baby Boomers are 19 percent more likely to share content onsocial media sites than any other generation demographic. Baby Boomers whoparticipate in social media were also found to have an average of 4.6 socialmedia accounts.

Tips on avoiding generational biases

1. Use the Design Thinking process.
   Specifically,the empathize(or understanding) phase of the process.In getting to understand your learner deeper than face-value, it helps if youcreate solutions for your actual learner, not for a stereotype.
2. Think day-to-day.
   Thisrefers to thinking about your learners’ day-to-day activities: What kind oflearning do they currently take part in? What tech are they used to interactingwith (and not particularly in the learning-space)? In mirroring the methodslearners gather outside the workplace, the learning and adoption curves levelout.
3. Focus on the best vehicle for the material.
   Often,when clients are opposed to using a specific medium or technology, they’ll usetheir users’ age as a basis for the opposition (“It’s not going to work forthis group”), when in reality, they’ve had prior failures with buzzworthylearning tech or methods that sought out the new, fun thing rather than theappropriate medium.
4. User testing.
   Seekbrutally honest feedback from a sampling of the learner base. If the feedback’scoming directly from your intended audience, there’s no room for bias.
5. Consider tenure instead of age.
   Manyof the roadblocks that we encounter for learners are attributed to their age,when truthfully, factors that create that roadblock usually have more to dowith their tenure in a particular position. Learners who have been entrenchedin their current way of doing things are more apt to keeping things the waythey are, including learning. This doesn’t mean that we need to halt our designfor those roadblocks, we just need to find a way to engage these learners.

Ill-adoption to a new, well-crafted style or type oflearning isn’t often due to a generation gap, or more specifically, to thosecharacteristics we project onto a particular generation. As designers, we haveto digdeeper in understanding our learning audience, and we have to marrytheir needs and wants with those of the client’s. When you’re pitching aproject, keep in mind that these projections don’t always come from thedesigner: they can come from our clients as well. They are just as susceptible togenerational stereotypes and ageism, as these pitfalls can provide easy exitsfrom “risky” (see: innovative) learning. We must create meaningful, impactfullearning solutions for our specific learners, regardless of age … or strict adherenceto cable television subscriptions.

References

Cole, Samantha.“DebunkingThe Workplace Generation Gap Myth Once And For All.” FastCompany. 14 November 2014.

Edison Research. “The PodcastConsumer 2017.” 18 April 2017.

Harwell, Drew. “Morewomen play video games than boys, and other surprising facts lost in the messof Gamergate.” The WashingtonPost. 17 October 2014.

Jafrey, Irfan. “SocialMedia Matters For Baby Boomers.” Forbes.6 March 2018.

Nielsen. “VirtualReality Has Real Appeal Among U.S. Gamers.” 8 June 2017.