Living in peace and harmony with the iGeneration

by Lional Wijesiri

In an interview immediately after India’s cricket team won the Champions Trophy 2013, Captain M.S. Dhoni was asked: “There is a lot of energy in the field. Is it a change in the personnel or is it a cultural change?”

A cultural change, agreed Dhoni. India won the trophy because its young team was not hitched by traditional thinking. In a set of unorthodox moves, Rohit Sharma (26) came out to bat first, Dhoni bowled for four overs, giving only 17 runs, and Ravichandran Ashwin (27) and Ravindra Jadeja (25) were allotted the last two overs to lead India to victory.

Ironically, it is for this very cultural change that this generation today draws criticism from all quarters. We call this group ‘iGeneration’ or ‘Generation-Z’, aged below 30 years.

We blame them for everything, from what they wear to how they talk. We decry their attitudes and behaviour - labelling them irresponsible, self-centred and inconsiderate. We say that they are less supportive of charity than their parents were and feel less connected to society than previous generations. They are less interested in national institutions, in knowing their neighbours.

Listening to these comments, one might ask: “Have we raised a ‘heartless’ generation?”

From a broader perspective, we are forced to agree that something is also right with this generation. It is they who bring trophies and medals, clean beaches, run websites for saving the Earth from exploitation, love the environment, rise against corruption and harassment and resist racist policies. They connect digitally and work for their causes. The writer believes that they are a set of good young people.

Attitude

It is true that this generation is fundamentally different from any generation that the world has ever seen. What they request from the adult generations are few and simple: Agile leadership, renewed learning processes, openness to change and creative resources. Above all, to accept them as they are.

All these adolescents have grown up with the largest storehouse of information in history - the Internet - and from an early age, they have learned to play online games, send e-mails to friends, and watch videos. It is precisely these unique qualities of the iGeneration that portend a new, invigorated attitude towards life. As long as adults understand how to reach these young people through all their technologies and media, they will devour new material as fast as it can be dished out.

This is a generation that learns differently, and unless we recognise and accept those differences, we will turn them off from life experiences. They are ready and willing to be the future, but we have to engage them in ways that we have never imagined could be part of school.

Understanding

So, how do we really understand the iGeneration? The writer believes that this generation holds a few special traits above and beyond any other generation:

Multi-tasking: The iGeneration comprises innate multi-tasking fans, and are primed to want instant and immediate outcomes. It also means that they want clarity and simplicity. The iGeneration won’t have the time or patience to engage in the nuances of gender, and thus, will simply allow people to just be “who they are”.

Globalised empathy: The iGeneration is more connected to the outside world than previous generations. They know what is hanging in the Louvre in Paris because they’ve seen it on the Internet. They know more about the world because they visit it on the computer. As such, they are much more empathetic and knowledgeable to the plights of their peers. Generally known to be wise beyond their years and living in a fully post-modern era, they are especially aware that everything is a social construct. They shy away from sharp classifications such as male versus female, white versus black or Sinhala versus Tamil.

Lack of ambition: Their elders are already bemoaning the iGeneration’s lack of ambition, but that is really their disenthralment with traditional power structures and control. The iGeneration is growing up in a world where the old power structures have already fallen apart (marriage, wealth, financial meltdown, security, terrorism), so there is nothing left to put on a pedestal. Climbing the ladder will become less important as a result. The iGeneration will job-hop in their careers to find satisfaction, just like they multi-task in their daily lives. They’re expected to have at least five careers and more than 20 employers in positions that don’t even exist today. It’s hard to be ambitious when you don’t know what the future will hold.

Pleasure-seeking: Those power structures will shift from the workplace to personal lives. Previous generations have paved the way for a workplace that was first ‘live to work’, then ‘work to live’ or ‘work/life balance’, and is now ‘live with work’ or ‘work/life blur’. Taking this to its natural conclusion, the iGeneration will live. Work will take a backseat to the iGeneration’s moral philosophy. Already, the iGeneration has a reputation as pleasure-seeking and consumerist. Consumerism is used to confer status, but the iGeneration will buy things simply to feel something. When that happens, when men and women care less about power and more about pleasure, equality will be easier to achieve.

Remote workers: The iGeneration will like to work remotely because they want flexibility and fulfillment. They prefer to communicate via email, skype, video-conference and other online systems. The iGeneration believes in equality, but can’t have it because they’re stuck in a workplace with outdated paradigms. They do not want to be stuck there though. They prefer to be out, meeting people, with their iPads or tablets in their possession to keep in touch with the office. As a result, the iGeneration will be the first generation where women and men are mutually respected, not just in their personal lives and relationships, but also at work.

Future

The next 10 years will be an important period for the iGeneration. While there are many unanswered questions about what the future holds for them, we can follow current trends to envision what this group will face in the years ahead.

Growing up in a fast-paced world validates the need for speed and instant gratification, especially when one can live virtually from experience to experience. The iGeneration wants to know what they need to know without all the ‘details’. Given the speed at which the iGeneration can communicate and the propensity for an abbreviated language, listening and inter-personal skills development may not come easily to them.

One aspect for the iGeneration to keep in mind then is the ‘art of thinking together’. Unfortunately, it is not always evident in their behaviour. The iGeneration should understand that dialogue is a shared inquiry, a way of thinking and reflecting together, it is something you do with, not to, another person. They should also understand that relationship-building takes time. It is built through trust, mutual respect and understanding.

The iGeneration will not be any different in responding to the challenges and opportunities that they face.

In fact, given the workforce and civic community the iGeneration is now growing up into, they may well serve as the energy that propels needed change across the inter-generational and cultural landscape.