Have you ever stopped to wonder what the older people of today would be like if they grew up in the 80s or 90s?

I often wonder at the differences between my generation and the previous one. My parents were born in the late 40s and early 50s, so they have quite a different outlook than some of my siblings who were born in the 60s. There’s a pretty big difference yet between my peers, most of whom were born anywhere from the late 70s to mid 80s, and the younger generation born in the late 80s to mid 90s.

When I was a teenager (let’s say 15-17), having a computer and internet access was either a novelty for wealthier individuals, or the fringe group of people known as “geeks”. I got a computer when I was almost 17. Even then, not many people I knew had a computer, and even fewer had internet access. I spent most of my time chatting, and fighting with the ancient computer that we had. Email was awesome, but instant messaging is what I spent many, many hours of the day doing.

During Thanksgiving (when people weren’t yelling at each other or crying), I had a chance to spend time with a couple of my nieces, one of which is 14, the other being 11. It is quite amazing how technologically saavy school-age kids are now. I thought my generation was pretty good. Toward the end of my teenage years, I had a cell phone, internet service, and my dad even had a pager! My nieces have social networking profiles, MP3 players and awesome cell phones.

Music and trends have changed as well. However, I know that 10 years from now, “emo” will be met with as quizzical a look as my younger relatives give me when I mention “ska”. It’s really very amusing and entertaining to me.

Either way, I hope I live to a ripe old age, to watch as each generation has increasing access to knowledge and technology. I hope to never look down on anyone for doing things differently than how I learned to do them, even if that way is foreign to me.

Now, I think we all need to decide: What kind of old people are we going to be? :)