I attended a session on Thursday on “Digital Natives”. (Digital Natives, for those who don’t know, are those of us who grew up with the internet as a part of our childhood; those born since during or after 1980.)
The session was the screening of a short film, exploring the preconceived notions that the more senior generations have to towards this new generation. While I think the intentions were good, I ended up leaving the session frustrated. The filmmaker had challenged some stereotypes (lazy, entitled) certainly, but then immediately replaced them with another batch (tech-savvy, purpose-driven). The room was left with a warm fuzzy feeling towards the next generation… en masse.
The ease of stereotypes, of course, is that you can make blanket judgments (positive or negative) within a 7 minute film, or a 90 minute discussion session. But the danger is when we assume that these rules apply to even the majority of a certain demographic.
The one redeeming aspect of the session were the panelists; intelligent people who seemed hesitant to paint an entire with a single brush, regardless of whether the words used were positive or negative. David Coletto of Abacus Data, in particular, offered insight into a fascinating poll he put together, specifically to look at the sub-groups that exist within this “Digital Native” generation.
My point is this – sometimes people with the right intentions can have as limiting a set of beliefs as the bigots of the world. Everyone you work with is an individual. Treat them as such, and avoid preconceived notions as best you can.
