I happened to catch a rebroadcast of the December 27th 2015 Cross Country Canada radio show and was intrigued by the topic – “Has the wisdom of older people become sidelined in the age of Google and YouTube?”
I found the commentary from the various participants very insightful and wide ranging. Some users talked about relationships, comparing face to face ( F2F) to phone, F2F to video call (skype, facetime, GHO etc.), F2F to email – well, you get the picture. Other comments focused more on the knowledge transfer aspect of the discussion.
One could easily argue that with all of the fantastic audio and video recording tools available now, online storage and search capabilities we have the best opportunity ever in history to capture and publish and share knowledge, perspectives and stories from generation to generation. Perhaps we simply need to be more thoughtful about going about this process of handing down knowledge.
I couldn’t help but wonder about making some more intentional connections to school systems here. What role might students play in making connections with the senior members of society, building relationships and capturing their knowledge and stories for future generations to explore?
Listen to the fascinating CBC podcast [here].
Note: Image credit Bill Gracey via Flickr creative commons license (flickr link)
~Mark
Mark,
My young adult children all call home for information before they Google. They call their dad for information about buying snow tires and advice about windows. They call me with question like “How much time per pound to cook a pork roast?” And when I say “call” home, I actually mean the family channel in Google Hangouts. I don’t think that we’ll give up on that trusted human connection in our search for knowledge!