Not long ago it was easy to spot a senior citizen: his hair was gray; his vision, poor; his hearing diminished; his gait, slowed.
All this has changed. Clairol makes gray locks easy to conceal; cataract surgery makes the newspaper obits a snap to read; minuscule hearing aids allow even faint sounds to be heard, and due diligence on the treadmill erases the stumbling gait.
But there is still much to distinguish the Senior from the Millenniums. It is not only the storehouse of memories that we have, but the habits that we maintain.
Most AARP members still use a telephone to share good news with family, hoping to bring unexpected joy into their lives, or, to impart sad news to a friend, hoping to glean comfort for a new disappointment that’s come their way. Not so with today’s generation. The cell phone is a part of their necessary apparel, but it is seldom used for telephone calls. TEXTING is the preferred mode. They text one another in the classroom, in a bar, in their home, everywhere. To do this speedily, they’ve acquired a skill that most seniors do not have: they text with their thumbs. No longer is the keyboard used with the 10 fingers we were given at birth; touch-typing is non-existent. Thumbs rule the day.
The CAMERA as most of us know it, is something this generation is acquainted with only from hearsay. Cell phone photos have replaced Kodak’s prints. They shoot endlessly with their iPhones, and instantly email the photos to friends in the next room or the next state.
The treasured photo album with the black corner adhesives is something for which they can not even imagine a use.
The PHONE BOOK, too, is something they know not of. There is no need to lug out of the back closet the 300-page phone book, long famous for both its heft and its tiny print. Want to order a pizza? Check Google. Want to look up an old girlfriend? Check Google. The INFORMATION 411 Operator is something they know of only from history books.
MAPS fall into the same category. We remember when paper maps were folded neatly and stored in the glove compartment of our cars. No longer so. If the GPS can’t find it, there is always GOOGLE MAPS. Their benefits are many: presumably they are always current, do not tear, and cannot be misplaced.
BOARD GAMES such as Monopoly or Trivial Pursuits have also waned in popularity with this generation. Their allegiance to electronics carries over to games: video games such as “Angry Birds” have spawned new millionaires for their developers. Thousands and thousands of young folks sit before a computer and try to destroy pigs with a slingshot.
TELEVISION is also on the wane amongst this population. Why wait a week to see if the mansion at Downton Abbey will really be sold? This cohort would rather wait a season and then get the entire series from Netflix. Why ruin a good soccer game to watch the President’s press conference? They’ll stream it the next day on HULU.
WRISTWATCHES have lost their glamour; the cell phone — always on hand– serves as a perfect timepiece. It’s propped beside them while they drink their lattes at Starbucks and while they do their homework at their desks. When in the gym, they affix it to an armband or a pocket. It is an essential appendage and if lost, it is immediately replaced. Immediately.
The most startling difference between the Millenniums and the more senior amongst us is the way they view PRIVACY. This used to be a value to safeguarded. Children were taught not to reveal too much about their family’s habits, quirks, battles, food preferences, leisure pursuits, religious beliefs, etc. For incidences that might embarrass the family, the guideline was “Don’t air your dirty laundry in public.” Not so today. All is fair game for the public, and one need not wait until someone asks.
The 21st century has put its hex on privacy, and heralded transparency in all of one’s ventures. The young people today tweet to the world where they are having lunch, when they have digestive problems, with whom they’ve made a sexual conquest, when they’ve arrived at the pizza store, and even what sort of topping they’ve ordered. Who’s interested? We might say. But obviously many are or Twitter and Facebook would not have captured so many devoted adherents who would sooner give up their wallets than lose their Facebook walls.
It’s not the Medicare card that distinguishes us from them; it’s the Facebook account.
Sivia Kaye is a professor emerita of English, having taught in the State University of NY. Now, in retirement in Portland, Oregon she enjoys her hobbies of trying to master both Bridge and the computer. She is frustrated in both, but refuses to give up.
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