Generations and smart tools: 4 surprising facts

Annamária Tari is one of the most well-known psychologists in Hungary. She deals with the young (Y and Z) generations. Annamária Tari delivered a presentation at the end of September 2019 in Szeged – which was about the press (and stress) of youngsters. We could listen to unbelievable data and facts about the X, Y and Z (and sometimes the Alfa) generations, and about their relations to smart tools. For me, the following 4 facts were extremely weird and made me think:

#1 Users of smart tools

It is unbelievable for me how fast the world of smart phones and smart tools develops and that they are available for everybody. According to some statistics, one fourth of the 4-year-old children are active users of smart tools. I had to ask myself whether my 4-year-old daughter is lagging behind since she does not have a smart phone.

#2 World ache

or me it is also unbelievable that it is a habit (fashion?) among teenagers to share sad posts full of world ache. However, it should not be so surprising since this approach to the world systematically appears: the age of spleen was in poetry in the 1700-1800s, and since 1998 emo is a trend in music and clothes. For the members of the Z generation, the world is equal to the Internet and the available posts. Therefore, they are not incidentally in stress about how many people like them or their photos and whether they meet the expectations of others. They fight for likes.

#3 Acceptable time to react

For me it was unbelievable how fast the world is and everybody wants everything immediately, but really immediately: we would like to solve everything within a few seconds. If there is no response to – for instance – a love message, the sender is going to be in stress supposing that they are surely not loved, that’s why they do not receive any response.

#4 Importance of education

Researchers have a scientific discourse on whether teaching is still necessary or not, since everything can be easily found on the internet. If information is available, why learn it? What is the task of a school and a teacher currently? (This is only valid if we are aware of what and how to look for it...)

I – as a member of generation Y – was brought up in the development of the computer science and Internet, so I was really shocked what issues are (may be) waiting for my daughters… And for us, parents, teachers, all these raise several dilemmas how to bring up a child.

If you have the chance, I recommend you to listen to Annamária Tari in person, too.