' These younger generation...they're so manja.'
I heard the statement again. I looked to my left and I saw an uncle around 60 years old.
I sighed inwardly and continue to eat my nasi goreng ayam (sans a smartphone in my hand). I don't blame them. every other generation blames the other generation after them.
I heard the uncle talk about younger generation being guled to our phones and needing the Internet all the time. What can we do? We rely so much on the Internet. Allow me to illustrate.
The world is becoming more and more international. We used to be separated severely by geographical boundaries. I used to have a penpal back in school. These days, I can talk to a Greg across the ocean real-time if I want (and if he chooses to, taking the time difference). Meeting with a colleague located on the other side of the earth are unheard of a few decades ago but we can schedule a weekly teleconference every week now.
Going back to letters; the fastest way to communicate used to be the telegram but now, all it needs was a touch of a button to send an email. Some jobs require us to be almost on our toes all the time. And then requires Internet and all the mobile devices.
I used to work from home. Sometimes I still do. And because of this, I was sometimes accused of lazy and not working. In this era; this fast-paced world, our generation strives for work-life balance. Work is work, while family time is still family time. We work hard and still want to spend time with the family. So, is it wrong to work from home for a day or two in a month to send our kids in the morning and not have to rush to work and arrange our own timetable? If we spend too much time at work, we believe the older generation will blame us too for putting work before family.
My point is, the world is changing. Fast. Even looking for a job requires the Internet. It's very rare to have someone send a resume by post these days.
Yes, we understand that sometimes we get carried away (face on mobile screens during family meetings) but as we grow older, we know that we have to divide our times between work and job. And one of the ways to do that will be through telecommuting.
So, please forgive us if we look as if we don't want to let go of the mobile phones. We're trying to make the best out of all this.
