CAPSTONE ESSAY.
The Rise of the Tech-Savvy Parent.
Introduction.
Over the past half-century, there has been a tremendous technological revolution around the world. New technologies have brought in facts that have changed quite several operations in the world. According to Venter, these technological advancements have had a significant impact and transformation to generation Z. This includes those kids born in the nineties and the post-millennials. Their extensive commitment in use and trying to catch up with the most recent technologies, has bred a gap between them and the generation Y (Venter 2017).
Though some parents may be proud of their kids and the milestones they are making in a bid to catch up with technology, it has broken the bridge of child-parent interaction. Salkowitz, in his book, “Generation blend: Managing across the technology age gap”, argues that indeed the use of new technology is causing a generational divide. In his perspective, there is an unclear assumption, rather some sort of hidden truth. For though technology seems to create a generational divide, there is a vague idea, where some of the generation Y, are equally well equipped with technology (Salkowitz 2008). In some instance, he says that the generation Y feel like they are the pioneers of all that the generation Z is bragging about.
Background
In the article “The Rise of the Tech-Savvy Parent” (Angela Misri 2019) states that the young generation is not superior to the older generation. She outlines and tries to justify her argument concerning this matter. In her experience, she claims that the new generation is not the pioneers of the technology whose ground they are claimed to possess. As a teacher of journalism, she outlines her experiences with the students. She exposes the gap that there is between the young generation vis a vis the proficiency in using the technology. As a part of what she expresses, is that the pioneers of this technology are the older generation and that generation Z, only comes in to enjoy the fruits of things they did not labour for.
Summary
In the article “The Rise of the Tech-Savvy Parent”, (Angela Misri 2019) that appeared in the Walrus paper, refutes that the young generation is digitally superior. As a mother, she confidently states that she is way better than her 16-year old teen. In her perception, she is capable of remotely controlling what her teen does with her phone with the teen’s consent. In case the specific applications fail to perform their functions, as usual, she claims to be the one who fixes them. “I’m the person who fixes my teen’s phone when they can’t figure out why their apps have disappeared” (Para 1). This is unlike what other sources claim, where they put the young people on the lead.
Angela has a contrary opinion against the idea that in figuring out a new piece of technology, it has to be handed over to the youngest family member. This opinion she poses against what was published in 200, in “The Economist”, where it was claimed that the family technology guru is usually a teenager. In this, she argues that in her house, she is the guru the world has never know. She goes further to narrate how she rose to these levels. She adds that her kids lack tech-savvy, does not find her by surprise to be the same thing happening across the world.
In comparison to the kids who were growing up in the 1980s, she argues that they were way better than the nineties and the post-millennials. She says that as a matter of fact, kids knew more than their parents deed in as much as technology is concerned. She says, the kids then were more curious and thus learnt quite a lot fast enough. This is not the case with the generation Z, who are less concerned with how technology is built up but instead just flourish on enjoying what has already been done for them. She says that they cannot fix on their own even the pettiest of the technological issues. The writer also criticizes the young generation for focusing more on just growing their social media and being less concerned with knowing how the technology works. She blames all this on poor critical thinking.
Rhetoric Appeal Analysis.
The writer of this article uses almost all aspects of rhetoric appeals. At the very initial stages of the articles, she appeals to pathos by using an analogy that triggers the reader’s emotions. For examples, where she poses a question and a comment, “Is the younger generation digitally superior? Not in my experience”. This makes the reader more curious to want to know what she has to say about the young generation. The need to know much about her experience is also created, by her claiming that, that is not the case in her experience. In addition to that, the writer appeals to logos by using statistical facts. She gives figures of the young generation who are connected to the internet versus the older generation, in percentages.
To sum up, Angela vividly brings out her points and the stand she has concerning technology. As a tech-savvy parent, she is confident that the older generation is just as informed about technological advancements as the young generation. If anything, she claims that the older generation is doing way better. They are seen to be more concerned, curious and critical thinkers in regard to technology and the advances that are being made.
References.
Angela Misri (2019). The Rise of the Tech-Savvy Parent. The Walrus Web: https://thewalrus.ca/the-rise-of-the-tech-savvy-parent/
Salkowitz, R. (2008). Generation Blend: Managing across the technology age gap (Vol. 3). John Wiley & Sons.
Venter, E. (2017). Bridging the communication gap between Generation Y and the Baby Boomer generation. International Journal of Adolescence and Youth, 22(4), 497-507.