Mahadeep Singh Jamwal
‘New Media Age’ applies to the generation of people who grew up in the era of universal technology, including computers and the internet that began more or less in the 1970s, when the first personal computer was introduced and continues in the present day. Those born between 1996 and 2012 are called “Digital Natives” because they have lived with digital technology their entire lives. They are comfortable with technology and computers at an early age and consider technology to be an integral and necessary part of their lives.
‘Digital Immigrants’ by contrast, older generational members are people who grew up before the internet and other digital computing devices were universal and tend to be less comfortable with the personal usage of technologies and so have had to adapt and learn these technologies. There is a definitive gap between two generations and does not account for people born prior to 1985 who may have had a role in developing these technologies or who seamlessly adapted to the digital age.
Yet we have a segment in the population that doesn’t have access to the internet and other common technologies and, therefore, they can be kept out of the purview of both Digital Natives’ as well as ‘Digital Immigrants’.
A house that has two generations (Digital Native & Digital Immigrants) living in it will be a house full of contrasting know-how, maturity and tolerance and of course strong opinions. I think it’s pretty obvious that things have changed dramatically, in some ways for the better, since our parents’ time. Technology has taken center stage in today’s world and the present generation is a social media addict. Here the generation gap comes into play that can be used to describe the differences in thoughts, actions, and tastes.
Belonging to ‘Digital Immigrants’ era, it was a cherished moment for me when I crossed sixty years of my wondrous life that crept many memories of this happy journey. The generation that has crossed sixty years is the generation which has seen so many changes that it is hardly possible for the generation after us i.e. ‘Digital Native’ to feel those changes. It is no longer possible for the coming generation to experience the thrilling activities of this intermittent period. Scientific development has modernized many of such activities.
We are the last generation who has seen everything from a bull-cart to a supersonic aircraft, the advancement of railway steam engines to diesel engines and to next electric engines, adventurous ride on ‘Shuk-Shuk’ railways to ‘Bullet Trains’, the world of posting letters in post boxes of red color displayed by the Post offices at different locations and postman collecting them for their journey to their destination, from physical meetings to virtual meetings that had never been thought of but possible now. Ours was the generation that has received sleeping doze while living in mud houses in the form of fairy tales and stories of kings and magicians from grandmother, comfortably lying in their lap, sleeping on the rooftop and focusing on the sky to find a moving star to get applause from others, enjoying our foods while sitting on the mud floor dually served by the elder of the home on ‘leafy plates’ to sitting on costly dining tables served by the domestic help in costly cutlery and enjoyed occasional Jaggery tea by sipping from the plates to costly tea sets.
We are the people who have played the traditional games ‘Gilli Danda’, Chhupam Chhupai or Hide-n-Seek’, ‘Chor-Sipahi’, ‘Langdi’, ‘Vish Amrit’, ‘Santolia’, ‘Lutta’ ‘Kho-Kho’, ‘Kabaddi’, ‘Kanchey or Marble’s’, ‘Lattoo’, ‘Hopscotch or Stapoo’ with their friends in the locality grounds. These are forgotten Indian childhood games. We are the people who have completed their homework in the moonlit night under the yellow light of the ‘kerosene oil lamps’, ‘Mitti Ke Diye’, or by self made lighting system by doing a hole in a bottle cap and putting a cotton wick in kerosene filled bottle through the hole and in the daylight reading novels by hiding ourselves under the bed sheets.
We have witnessed and enjoyed ‘Deodar tree twigs’ called in older days as ‘Deeniyaa’ bundled in a green leafy pack and lighted to act as ‘Torchs’ generally called ‘Mashal’ whereas dry cell operated ‘Batteries/Torch’ was a symbol of richness. We are many people who have exchanged our feelings with near and dear ones through postcards and waiting months together to arrive and reply back. We are the people of the same last generation who have spent their childhood without a cooler and have seen single standing fan in the entire family generally called ‘Fratta’. We are the last people who often used to apply more mustard oil to our hairs and used to feel proud of oily hair in school and marriage functions. The handkerchief was the royal touch during special functions. We are the last people in row who have made books, clothes and hands black while writing and using a twig-pen and ink-pot and have written with twig-pen on the lime painted plank and washed the same for fresh writing, who have been beaten up by the teacher in the school and again been beaten by the family for complaining in the home and to run away after seeing an elderly one as a mark of respect and due to their fear coming home through alternate ways without being spotted.
Ours is the last generation that has used for a long time their finger in applying black, red or white tooth powder for cleansing the teeth and has sometimes brushed their teeth with salt or charcoal. We are the “Radio Babies” generations who have enjoyed the ‘British Broadcasting services (BBC)’, ‘Vividh Bharti’, ‘Binaca Geet Mala/Cibaka Geet Mala’ and ‘Programs like ‘Hava Mahal’. ‘Digital Immigrants’ have enjoyed beautiful relationships and sharing sweetness with one and all, that is a missing link now-a-days.
The ‘Digital Natives’ have become social media addicts and we can’t stop it at all. I believe that this generation has a hard time doing something without the internet because it is easy to look at something and find whatever we need really quickly.