The Unfan

So, I noticed this odd running theme when conversing with older people about how this generation (By that I mean the 20 somethings and 30 somethings) are less intelligent than their generation is. So I decided to bring up this discussion with my mom where we discussed the differences in generation and it seems that older people have this perception based on some lapses in knowledge about things that really just don't apply to us.

Of course we're not knowledgeable on every topic because sometimes we just don't care. It isn't that we're less intelligent, its that we're more apathetic. And I think that it is largely due to the internet. I mean, we don't necessarily need to know everything about all the social mannerisms, geography, or traditional business models because for the first time in history all societies are one and the same and located at the same place. It used to be that we learned a certain set of manners, but can that same set of manners really be applied now? Probably not when you consider that the social norms in Germany, China, and Sweden are all different and I can now sign on at any hour and talk to people from all 3 places almost as if they were in my living room. It used to be that business had to be done a specific way, but with the internet marketing and commerce are really different, especially in media based businesses.

With that said, does anyone feel this generation is highly misunderstood because we recognize how much different the internet makes society as a whole or even that the internet as a whole is a new sort of society in and of itself?