Generation Z
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Today’s challenge for tomorrow
by Attila Márton
attilamarton.com
The problems caused by the generation gap – labeled with phrases like “Back in the day…” and “Youngsters these days…” – have never been as meaningful as they are nowadays. Globalization and the virtual society created an absolutely new and different generation. The basic and urgent question being whether the canine society has realized it so far and is able to find the proper way to react.
Just imagine a World Dog Show or an IPO qualification utility trial in thirty years.
Meanwhile the show catalog is more than likely to be interactively accessed on your tablet – also showing real-time results as a basic feature. The question occurs whether those who are currently desperately seeking their place in the world – and find it mostly on the World Wide Web – will be eager enough to participate in these mentioned events at all!
Can we be sure enough that the generation connecting to the world via their smart phones will feel the urge to become a part of the canine world at all? Can the coming generation be motivated enough – including the heirs of well-known kennels worldwide and descendants of famous Utility or Agility dog handlers and trainers – to gain success and achievement with their enthusiastic work and effort through decades, instead of pushing “like” and checking the latest comments on their posts?
The currently maturing generation – born between 1995 and 2009, and labelled “Z” – even differs from the previous generation “Y”.
The completed globalization process demolished all geographic boundaries and terminated any kind of obstacle to free and fast information flow. The digital society has been forming totally new behaviors and is shaping the identity of those who are going to fit into the adult society in the future.
It is obvious that virtual reality is an integral and inseparable part of generation “Z”, and that is the reason why these kids are also named as dotcom children. According to current surveys, they are connected most of the time to the internet, gaining and processing incredible amounts of information. Their knowledge is based on immediately accessed data, through doubtful and easily digestive information sources, instead of books. They sometimes separate themselves from the outer world, considering it a threatening scene they have no influence on at all.
Most of their social interactions happen in the virtual world as well. Thus they do not really learn to handle the frustration of confrontational situations, and they tend to keep themselves separated from real and personal interaction.
To sum up this premise, they are more separated from reality than any other generation before; their long-term goals are not so clear, and they live their everyday-life in a world that is functioning at a much more rapid pace.
Success and achievement in breeding and training dogs takes much more time and effort than posting a picture and collecting “likes”. Picture a future where the generation is stuck in the virtual reality to gain self-justification and assertiveness. It’s not too encouraging and really appalling.
The future existence of resupply [of fanciers] for the following decades will be determined now. It is almost impossible to achieve radical improvement to today’s defined and mature personalities. The very first phase is being aware of the problem itself. After facing it, we should start to communicate in a special way, with messages that appeal to the new generation. Finding the solution is a duty for not one man, but for society, in this specific case, the doggy world.
For this generation, avoiding conflicts and failure is probably more important than experiencing any sense of achievement. And it is essential to attempt to give a hand in these inevitable situations. If things go wrong or do not turn out as planned, or do not trigger desired actions, or some back out in an instance as they usually do: neglect, reject or suspend the disturbing element at the virtual playground!
Enthusiasm must be kept alive in these situations as well, and the capability and methods to encourange interest must be guided and mentored.
This generation’s communication tools are totally different from what we are used to, and we have to learn their language. We have to find the proper pedagogical method to establish a long-term and steady mentality which leads to enthusiasm, which later forms dedication to our sport. Basically, it is important to make it possible to gain success and permanent, positive community-related experience, not in the virtual playground, but in pure reality.
The national canine organizations in many countries do not seem to pursue actions as seriously as is necessary to handle this problem, which is ticking like a bomb, getting closer to detonation. The communication strategies targeting this generation effectively and in a motivating way are still missing.
Human psyche uses the gained knowledge in two opposite ways: on the one hand, it remains locked up from the upcoming, more dynamic generation considered as a competitive threat; on the other, you can hand over all the knowledge, and experience gathered through the decades, and as a mentor, it is not threatening at all to acknowledge that when something begins, there is an endpoint as well. And life still goes on.
This is the problem and duty of all canine organizations, breeders, Utility and Sport dog trainers: shrugging off whether someone is going to carry on the age-long heritage of traditional cynology, taking the risk to see the whole process vanishing into memory. Consequently, no one will find a trace of the canine world on facebook, let along clicking a “like” on it…
Short URL: http://caninechronicle.com/?p=77482
Posted by ralbee
on May 16 2015. Filed under Current Articles, Editorial, Featured.
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