generational
in conversation with a (40 year old) co-worker today, he asked me that when typing something up (a report, email, memo, or whatever), upon finishing a sentence and started the next, did i put one space or two before the word that starts the next sentence? i told him that i knew our boss (also around her late 30s/early 40s) preferred two spaces between sentences in reports, but that if he was asking my opinion, i preferred one space. a few other people in the office joined the discussion, and all the mid-to-late 30s and older people said “two spaces”, whereas my preference and that of another late-twentysomething co-worker was for one space.
when trying to figure it out, we decided that it was because they had learned to type primarily on typewriters and word processors, and we had learned to type on computers. i’ve used typewriters and word processors before (unlike a recent high school intern who i don’t think had ever even seen one before), but i first really learned how to type using the trusty apple IIe computers that were ubiquitous at all my elementary schools, which we also used for troggle, number munchers. oregon trail and my favorite, carmen sandiego. i think that for whatever reason, on a computer screen there’s really no need to put two spaces between sentences, as it still reads pretty clearly without. the thing that i found interesting about the discussion was the generational aspect of it. the older staff members were adamant about the 2-space rule that was drilled into their heads when they were learning to type, and we younger workers simply didn’t see why the extra space was necessary. i was born in 1981, squarely on the boundary between what are commonly referred to as generations X and Y, and so on some issues i might react with one generation’s assumed values or conceptions, and on others i might see it from the other generation’s perspective.
in grad school, one of the classes (organizational management or something like that) had a session on generational attitudes and characteristics, and i remember thinking at the time that for the most part it seemed like a bunch of stereotypes and generalizations, and that it sounded like a lot of B.S. the more i think about it though, i feel like although everyone naturally doesn’t embody all the assumed tendencies and attributes of their generation, that just because someone is a member of the “greatest generation” and went through the great depression doesn’t mean that they are necessarily frugal or willing to sacrifice, but nonetheless one’s framework for engaging with the world, and many of the assumptions that people operate on probably are somewhat generational. this may seem like a pretty obvious and self-evident point, but then what would you say are the important things going on that will inform the generation growing up now (“post-millenials”, let’s say)?
