Generation Gap Grows Geometrically

Growing up, I thought that I had seen it all.

The automobile had been invented, the radio, television, rail and air travel - Man had even walked the Moon - and after the invention of the computer and the Internet, I thought that there were no more mountains to conquer. Nothing left to invent with the exception perhaps of Man flying. No Generation Gap in my lifetime.

Yet the past Generation has seen so many scientific advances, it boggles the mind. Primary among them is perhaps the availability of the Mobile/Cell phone. Add to that the Geometric Proliferation of the Internet; Facebook, Twitter etc. Put that Internet access in everyone's pocket and you have a new Generation that is nothing like the old.

Interestingly enough, Rav Matisyahu Salomon in his Internet Asifa Speech was almost willing to write off an entire Generation - the 20-35 year olds. A real Generation Gap! Gasp!

Yet somehow we must adapt to the new reality. We must channel the technology to do our bidding, not be ruled by it. E-learning is just around the corner, Seforim may yet become extinct. If not for Shabbos, perhaps some day there really would be no more physical Ketzos's sold in America!