Generation gap among contemporaries?

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Generation gaps have always been synonymous with parents and their teenage children disagreeing over issues like clothes, boyfriends/girlfriends, deadlines or studies. But the words seem to have taken on a completely new meaning with the current generation. Unlike their parents, kids these days are finding it difficult to relate to others a few years younger or elder to them. The age gap is so meager that one may even pass them off as “contemporaries”.

Says 19-year-old Arti Srinivas, “My 15-year-old brother is nothing like what I used to be at his age. My life then revolved around my school, friends from school and home. My brother has a very active social life and a whole set of ‘hangouts’ that he and his friends frequent. I think he is growing much faster than I did.” “When my 13-year-old sister’s friends come home for a stay over, you could easily mistake them for a bunch of 18-year-olds,” says Swati Nahata, first year arts student at a Mumbai college. “The girls are loud and extrovert. They don’t hesitate to talk about a lot of topics that were considered taboo five years ago. I remember being shy about discussing things like that at her age”, she adds. However, Swati believes it is a positive thing that these girls are confident and comfortable in their skin.
Kamala Ganesh, professor of sociology at the University of Mumbai blames it largely on the advancement of technology. “Children these days are exposed to many things at a very young age. This overexposure places these youngsters at par with their older siblings and friends. Also one needs a certain level of dexterity to cope with the advancement in technology and younger people do it with great ease. It alienates the older people in the family and surroundings. However, this gap is more superficial and than deep-rooted unlike the gap between two generations literally,” she says.