Blogs and Articles from Third Way Forum Membrs

・ While older generations have observed changes from the analog world to the digital world, younger generations have grown up with the digital world. In this sense, young people don’t miss much from the analog world. They simply don’t know.

・ Younger generations are naturally better in digital interactions. They can connect with people online fast, and at work they often have some backdoor channels on SNS for informal communication.

・ Since the remote working has become the norm, online communications have become the major daily communication style for most business people. In the online communication practice, communications happen in a very structured way. Whatever web meeting tools are used, we are taken to a virtual meeting room at a certain time with certain people to discuss certain topics. This kind of virtual meetings go on one after another every day. While structured communications have become very effective online, unstructured meetings hardly happen any longer. It was often those unstructured meetings where someone bump to you on the corridor or you are coincidentally introduced to someone when you get exposed to new ideas and new opportunities.

・ Since we started working remotely, many people share the feeling that time passes faster than before. It is because we are repeating the same sequence of events, at the same place, staring at the same PC screen, and often talking to the same people. We are not exposed to different varieties of things which often give us stimulus and joy.

・ Some young people are working online most of the time since they joined the workforce. Their lack of exposure to different varieties of things may be causing some sense of loss and apathy in their generations. Also, as their attention is often driven by algorithm and tend to see their interest areas only, they may develop some level of narrow-mindedness if they are not careful.

・ Older generations in Japan went through a lot of competitions due to the large population in the same generation, a lot of unhealthy practices such as bulling, discriminations and pollutions etc that were still unchecked. Today’s society is in a much better place and young people should feel lucky. Due to the decreasing population, young people have much less competitions, companies and the government are now guided and regulated by UN’s SDGs, ESG finance and stricter compliance/governance laws. So they do not have to put up with bullies and unhealthy practices any more. That is all good. However, as they have grown up in a well-protected and much more civilized society, when they find themselves in a tough situation, they may not know how to handle it.

・ In the digital world, you can easily join and drop a conflict with someone, click a button to have a Amazon delivery next day, and immediately make many online friends. However, in the real world, you can not drop a conflict easily, it will haunt you if not solved. And solving is not easy. You can not get what you want next day or make meaningful friendship instantly as these things take time. The digital native young people will face this problem when they enter the workforce. The question is whether or not they have the mental resilience necessary to cope with the challenges. Do today’s young people have the opportunity to acquire such mental resilience somewhere before they face real world challenges?

・ These days you can learn anything online especially on YouTube. There is a concept of “outsourcing your knowledge”. You no longer need to store knowledge in our head. We just get the knowledge on YouTube when needed. That’s the way many young people get knowledge these days. However, knowledge is not wisdom yet. For knowledge to be wisdom, there must be application and actual experience and reflection. Without application, knowledge alone is not so useful. There may be many knowledgeable but shallow people these days.

・ Young people are much more promising to be successful in the new age so they should feel positive about their future. However, it seems many young people in Japan are full of anxiety and fatigue and lacking confidence. Why? Maybe overwhelmed by so many old people in this country?

・ In overseas, young people are protesting against the government over many things, such as environmental issues, pandemic lock-down, education policy, welfare system, social injustice etc. In Japan, young people do not demonstrate at all. They will be the ones who have to take care of so many old people and so much government debt so they should be very angry. However, young Japanese people are not responding at all. Maybe not responding at all is their form of response.