I am constantly amazed at how people of different ages use the emerging technologies. My 89-year-old father is a master of email, google, and manipulating the programs that live behind the icons I take for granted on my computer. I remember using punch cards to create computer programming; at college, we all walked around with boxes of punch cards, fed them into the one computer we had on campus, and waited for our report to be spit out. A typo could be fatal. My then-husband and I got our first home PC when my 25-year-old son was born. It had a hard drive, which was an amazing thing back then. I used it mainly for word processing; years later when we got a computer with a modem, the three of us fought constantly for access to the phone line so we could get online. Now, I can't live without email, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and my Blackberry. Compared to me, my son is a Luddite. He is constantly on his computer, but he refuses any type of smart phone and thinks Twitter is stupid. I can't tell you what he thinks of Facebook. He refuses to friend me. He will respond to my emails, though. My 17-year-old daughter, on the other hand, refuses to email. "If you want to get in touch with me, text me," she says. Often she texts me from upstairs, when a shout would serve the same purpose. Again, I'm banned from her Facebook account. But she doesn't need a TV in her room; she watches everything on her laptop....while communicating with friends, monitoring facebook, and doing other multi-tasking I can't even fathom. Her iPhone seems permanently affixed to her hand.

The same way these differences play out regarding the use of technology in my family, they also play out in the workforce. These differences go far beyond emails and smart phones. Different generations want different things out of work , family time, and just about every other aspect of life. It's hard for me to grasp all the differences. And I know I'm not alone.

Join us for our web seminar "Generational Diversity Grows Up" on February 18. Learn more about our differences. And maybe...just maybe...we're not as different as we seem?

http://www.workingmothermediainc.com/?service=direct/1/ViewConferenceCategoryPage/dlinkViewConferenceLanding&sp=1911&sp=67