8/31/2010

Generations: Millennials Didn’t Invent the Wheel or the Text Message

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Aug 30, 2010

Millennials Didn’t Invent the Wheel or the Text Message

By Kel Gratke


Kel Gratke is a Generation Xer.


Most Millennials feel like they invented the wheel when it comes to modern technology. If it’s something new and cool happening in the workplace, the marketplace, or just in normal everyday life—this youngest generation wants to claim credit. That’s why a new exhibit opening this winter at the British Library in London is so refreshing. It reveals that long before cell phones, people have been using “text speak” to communicate. To learn more, click here.


One of the highlights is an early poem written in 1867, which uses letters and numbers in the same way we use them when texting on our smartphones today. Those from the Victorian Age considered this a very clever style, long before today’s teens started texting their buddies about getting together for pizza.


While Millennials are amazing at using and adapting to today’s technology, they aren’t always the first to come up with the concept. The original ideas were often developed by their predecessors—maybe not from the Victorian Age, but usually from their Traditionalist, Baby Boomer, and Generation Xer coworkers. Millennials don’t have to go back to the 19th century to grab a cool idea. There are several sitting just a cubicle away, with mentorships and job shadowing helping to start the flow.


Millennials may be the new kids on the block, but they’re not the first new kids on the block. Yes, we can chuckle a bit and enjoy letting the Millennials know that they weren’t the first to discover texting. The same way the Boomers felt about the Xers and their cell phones. The same way the Traditionalists felt about the Boomers and their huge computers. There really is no such thing as a new idea.


But the great thing about the Millennials is that they’ll accept this with a good-natured smile and plenty of questions. The passing of information from generation to generation is extremely important to most Millennials, and they crave knowledge any way they can get it. Keep in mind that this is the most mentored and coached generation in history, and they like to hear what the other generations have to say. And the last thing the Millennials want to do is waste their time reinventing the wheel . . . or in this case, reinventing the text message.

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Comments

Great article! It's surreal to read the poem knowing it wasn't written 5 days ago. This makes it clear, there's a lot to be gained from listening to previous generations' successes and failures. Our environments aren't so very different after all.

Posted by: Alex | Aug 30, 2010 at 01:23 PM

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