Techno gap between generations getting wider

Islamabad: Young generation’s adaption to technology has caused digital divide between parent-child relationships to get wider in daily life.

With every day, something new in technical gadgets for daily lives, young people were developing innovative ways of interacting using technology while elderly were feeling left out in technology which was causing knowledge gap between the two.

Psychiatrists argue that technology, with all its benefits, has also affected the means of communication on personal level among families creating boundaries within the social fabric of the society.

Practicing psychiatrist at Shifa International Hospital Islamabad, Dr Rizwan Taj said the idea that modern way of communication such as smartphones made families feel disconnected among themselves was probably one of the biggest problems brought upon us by technology.

He said especially young parents were encountering that problem. Social media’s addiction, a bi-product of technology, has failed some of the old parenting practices. “Young generation’s increasing dependency on technology has changed parent-kid relationship,” he added.

Dr Rizwan said it did not mean that usage of techno based equipment were causing this rift, it only meant that young lots attention span has become shorter than the older generation.

He told many of his patients came with the problem of their child being annoying, other youngsters came with issues of less interaction between the siblings or parents as their interaction has only shrunk down to using smartphones (Whatsapp or calls), he added.

"Technologies certainly do create cultural phenomenon, whether for good or for ill," said senior professor at NUML, Attiya Zulfiar. In fact, today’s youth, especially those born in 90s, has seen both of these cultures, techno and non-techno.

This generation has used landlines telephones earlier in their childhood and now a smartphone with a camera in it was part of their daily life. So when they experience this technological rush, they definitely go one step ahead of their parents, she added.

For not being online most of the time, elderly people usually play minor role in researches that were being carried out online. This practice has changed the younger generation into opinion makers as well.

Technology being a normal facet in youth’s lives has made them fearless about pushing buttons and experimenting whereas older people often struggle to go through their phones gallery sometime. Online research and advocacy groups were also often unable to take the opinions of elderly audiences which was also a sign of an increasing digital divide between generations.