Friday, October 11, 2019

How technology relates to respecting your elders

Like today's written word, there was a time when the only things in someone's knowledge were the ones they heard from their elders.

Almost all the ancient world's literature was passed on from generation to generation in this matter. The only way to learn was to listen to your elders.

This is true not only for literature. Agriculture, cooking, prediction of seasons and all sorts of art, science and heuristics would have required learning from elders - relatives or respected people in one's tribe or village. Like ancient literature, other things too must have had a generation to generation passage.

And how do we make dal makhani today? Look up the recipe online! Wow. Where is the part when one calls their mom and asks what kind of tadka to do?

It feels that the more a society advances, the less respect for seniors is there. Not a bad thing, this means that instead a lack of respect, there is less need for guidance from seniors or elders.

I am sure there are a lot of other, better reasons for lesser respect to elders in today's world. But no matter how small, technology sure plays a role.

1 comment:

  1. Very well said. Technology has played a big part in "less need" for guidance from elders. This is good because some elders started to preach how they suffered and today's generation have things easy. For example, I used to walk 20 km to go to school and nowadays you all go in a car. So what? Since you suffered we also have to suffer?

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