English 101
Research Essay Draft
10 July 2014
Technological Void – Millennials and Boomers
Technology has bound faster within the past 100 years than it has since the dawn of man,
and the generations that precede one another can take credit for the direction of where it is today.
With the rise of technology, a discernible line can be seen with the young adults, and the parents
and grandparents of the last generation. These two major generations keep drawing interest in
today’s media; they are the Baby Boomers generation – those born between 1946 and 1964, and
the Millennial Generation – those born sometime in 1980 through early 2000. As technology
advances faster, so does social interaction in various areas of daily life, and it is creating a
discernible difference between both generations. The Millennial Generation’s technological
ability to pursue life socially, educationally and vocationally, has created a rift from their
parental generation – the Baby Boomers; however, the technological separation is masking
similarities shared by both generations.
The Millennial
The Millennial Generation is the current body of young minds that fuel the digital
revolution through all aspects of life into the future. Socially speaking, their tools for
communication thrust their voice around the globe. In the classroom– even from home– nearly
every spec of knowledge can be dredged from the internet right from their fingertips. Even the
workplace has become so efficient that tasks are completed and communicated in fraction of the
time of past generations, fueling a booming economic growth of the industry. Professor of
distance learning at NSU Michael Simonson states “Millennials have been prophesized as
builders of new institutions that actually work, and as a generation that does not worry about
tearing down old institutions” (1). Technology adaptation and lifestyle changes seem too foreign
for generations of the past to catch on, but a child born within this era absorbs the changes like a
sponge.
Physiologist, Ph.D. Larry D. Rosen, outlined that most Millennial children raised
intertwined into technology, and are well versed at an early age on how to interact with
communications. Many children can even communicate over various electronic means even prior
to grade school (1). As Millennials grow through adolescence, their reach to global friendship is
greatly outpacing what one can do face to face with human to human contact. Chat rooms,
Facebook, and other social media sites project intimate detail for all to see, and is only vetted to
the discretion of what one would allow to be available. It is not uncommon for kids and young
adults to be texting one friend while on video chat with another, and walking down the street or
at a coffee house with a real live friend in front of them. Professor Michael Simonson surmised
“research is still anecdotal; multitasking and social net-working are only two obvious activities
of millennial learners that need investigation—at least investigation is needed if you are a baby
boomer teacher or Gen X trainer” (2).
The dynamics of how interaction is done on a daily basis has transformed this new era to
a plethora of instant knowledge and communication at the press of a button. In the past ten years,
the digital school room migrated from primarily brick and mortar classrooms to a blend of digital
online learning to full scale digital degrees. Ryan May indicates “4 percent of all undergraduates,
took their entire program through distance education (par. 1). Now grade school through high
school is on the rise with distance learning and giving young students to take courses to help
reinforce or complete credits for high school. Theoretical Physicist and Director of University
Center for Innovation in Teaching and Education, Mano Singham, argues that Millennials are not
so different from the norm of standard student personalities; rather the tools at their disposal
enable them to engage in schooling through a different approach – digitally (3). Being schooled
along with this technology will carry out post-graduation to the business world netting a higher
education value for the workforce.
Many jobs of today require some form of computer literacy, and the tech boom has
infested all facets of business with I.T. (Information Technology). Ryssel, Ritter and Gemunden
define “Information technology [as] a term that encompasses all forms of technology utilized to
create, capture, manipulate, communicate, exchange, present, and use information in its various
forms (business data, voice conversations, still images, motion pictures, multimedia
presentations, and other forms, including those not yet conceived)” (2). With the automation of
