Classic English Literature
In everyday life some differences and some similarities have been observed in communication between older and younger adults. For example a feature of becoming older means that hearing ability has decreased for some adults while on the other hand younger adults still have acute hearing. In business and other professional systems the younger adults have been observed to follow their elders lead. Therefore in office environments all the adults young and old used their best communication skills to develop techniques for interacting with other adults. Three easily identifiable strategies have consistently been used in professional communication situations; in order to show they can maintain good, positive relationships, work cooperatively, and behave appropriately.
Problems arise even in professional settings when adults are not able to adapt their communication so other individuals can understand their message. Many reasons exist which can cause adults of all ages to be caught in a trap of inflexible communication strategies. There are three general categories (a) people with different ideas cannot appreciate anyone else’s idea, (b) people each have a unique personality, and unfortunately few people do not know how to get along.
A thought experiment was conducted where a researcher closed his or her eyes and listened carefully while two different age groups communicated. The first group of participants consisted of older adults in their early 70s. The second group of participants consisted of younger adults in their late 20s. A true generational separation would be observed using these two age groups. The difference in ages between the younger and older groups would be about fifty years. The first meeting was held in a large dining room with two long tables sitting parallel to each other. One table was reserved for the younger group of adults. The other table was reserved for the older adults. No mixing between the age groups was allowed. The same to age groups met for the second meeting a week later but they were allowed to sit wherever they chose. The seating arrangement therefore was random with a good mix of the two age groups at both of the tables. Was the difference in communication styles between the two age groups easier to discern when the two groups were sitting separately? When the two groups were interspersed randomly was a difference in communication styles identifiable? The hypothesis for this thought experiment is that if the groups were separated or mixed together the difference between the older and younger adults will still be recognizable.
For the first meeting we can imagine that the listener is sitting to the side of the room but between the two tables. The difference between the communication between the younger and older adults would probably be very recognizable. The younger adults would probably be speaking more quickly but using fewer words. They might stop in the middle of a sentence because their speaking partner may finish the sentence or already understand what was being said. The younger adults probably were probably using more brand names in their speech like Apple, iTablet, and Blueberry. At the older adult’s table the conversation would probably be taking place at a slower more thoughtful pace. A pause might be identifiable after one person speaks and before another person gives a response.
During the second meeting when the younger and older adults were allowed to mix, observations may have been more difficult but there should be some obvious differences in the communication between older and younger. The younger adults would have slowed their speed of speech to match their older partner’s during a communication. On the other hand some characteristic differences should be discernible. The younger adults could be expected to adapt to new speaking partners more easily than the older adults. Some older people may not have a good enough memory to feel very self-confident when talking with unfamiliar partners. Older adults would probably still show a pattern of using longer passages of description.
The hypothesis for this thought experiment was that if the groups were separated or mixed together the difference between the older and younger adults will still be recognizable. Younger adults could be expected to speak other young adults especially when with familiar people, they communicated with fewer words and more quickly than the older adults. This difference probably would be identifiable most easily in the thought experiment when the younger and older adults were separated. Older adults could be expected to use with more words when communicating description. Communication is an essential part of social interaction. The differences between younger and older communicators need to be well understood. Assuming that people of all ages and all generations communicate in the same way can only lead to misunderstandings. In order to verify the thought experiment both visual and audio faculties would be needed. Thought experiments can be very useful when observing the different communication techniques informally.
