# Trending

 

 

"It is possible to teach an old dog new tricks..."

 

"Excuse me, may I talk to you for a minute?" The young man, who was very "plugged in", turned to me and said "Huh?". I repeated the question, only this time a bit louder. 'Sure" he replied as he took the buds out of his ears. "My name is the Very Angry Bird - but most people just call me Bird". "Glad to meet you Bird. My name is Millennial Mike, but you can just call me Millennial".

 

"Listen Millennial, I am trying to learn how your generation stays informed. I am asking that question because today, in 2013, I have never seen to much information available to so many so quickly." I noticed as I was asking the question, Millennial was checking something on his smart phone. "For example, what were you just doing when I was asking my question?" "I was just tweeting, Bird. I wanted to get a Tweet out that I was talking to a Bird. In fact, I even hash tagged 'Bird' to see if I can get a trail going."

 

"Millennial, are you concerned about Syria? Do you think we are going to get involved up to our kneecaps?" He looked at me with a dazed look and then put his ear buds back in. "Who cares Bird - besides, I don't follow baseball. Right now I am trending on Kayne and Kim. Can you believe what he did while she was preggo? Man, this guy really knows how to play."

I saw I was getting nowhere fast. "Excuse me Mike- I mean Millennial. Could you please take the ear buds out one more time? I have another question for you." Millennial gave me that "look" and again took out his ear buds. "Are you in the least bit bothered that the NSA is now keeping track of everything you put on your smart phone, every call you make, every site you visit?" Now Millennial was starting to get annoyed. "Look Bird. I don't know and I don't care. Besides, TSA, NSA, CIA - is there any difference between them anyhow?" I thought "That is the first thing he said that almost made sense to me."
 

I tried a few more topics like the economy, the debt, the Eurozone and so on. Every subject led to another strange response. He tried to steer the conversation towards something about the "kicking" graphics in Halo. That is when it hit me - in this wonderful, light speed world of information, many of our younger folks are focused on stuff that has nothing to do with their future. All the information in the world is instantly available to them. Information I had to dig for when I was that age is now there for the asking on smart phones, tablets or lap tops.

I thanked Millennial for his time. It was very informative for me. You see, this cornucopia of tools for the information age, were created by my generation. Ironically, they are now being used by mostly - my generation. We are not as old and outdated as some Millennial types may think. In fact, we even know how to "#" in the Twitterverse. As Millennial Mike walked away, he was still trying to get past Level 96 on Candy Crush. He was able to pause the game for just a minute to go back to Twitter and delete the "# Bird" he created while we were talking. Basically, he had with the Bird and all his stupid questions. Now, back to Level 96...