Geriatric Millennials and your digital body language 🤔
Ever heard of geriatric millennials? This Medium article explaining the term went viral last week and hit the headlines. It says kids born between 1980–85 are ‘best positioned to lead teams that will thrive in the hybrid workplace’. They spent their formative years on both sides of the analogue and digital divide, and have a crucial role in helping bridge the gap between ‘digital adaptors’ and ‘digital natives’.
There was internet outrage — we like to fight about labels. Some people had fun with it, adding #geratricmillennial to their handle and asking about discounts. Others were offended by the term and suggested a name change. Can we have a sexier name? How about Elder Millennials or Xennials? I find that a bit sad. If we don’t like the term geriatric, we need to rethink how we view older people.
Of course, labels are silly — a marketing ploy to put us in boxes and sell us stuff, but the argument she’s making is right. ‘The speed of technological adoption makes it wrong to see an entire generation (spanning almost a 20-year difference) as being the same.’ Geriatric Millennials straddle the digital-adapter-native divide and are often able to live in two worlds — they are comfortable with both communication styles.
Age plays a partial role. We’re individuals — there are ‘Millennials’ who hate Zoom and love their phones and ‘Gen Xers’ like me who don’t answer calls and prefer texting and Slack. It shows the benefits of having a diverse team — we can all learn from each other.
Anyway, great PR by Erica Dhawan, who wrote the article to promote her new book, Digital Body Language. She used a provocative term to spark conversation, identifies as a geriatric millennial and explains why they’re great.
Erica spent over 10 years investigating, researching and finding new ways to encourage collaboration and communication at work. She grew up as an immigrant in America — caught between two cultures, and says we’re all digital immigrants now. She wanted to write ‘a nuts and bolts rulebook for clear communication in the digital age. Our shiny new tools are causing issues, and most of us speak badly in this world.’
I’ve been listening to the audiobook — lots of funny stories, anecdotes and practical advice, and it’s made me think about my digital behaviour. I think I’m doing my colleagues a favour with my short and snappy emails, but maybe they’re perceived as cold and distant. I still have an urge to multitask while on Zoom. Does it look like I’ve checked out when I look down at my phone during meetings or when I turn the camera off? ‘You’re a black square in the corner…’
I had a boss who told me off via email for not responding to my colleagues’ emails. I thought about it for a bit and wrote back in my defence i.e. of course, I’ll reply, there are lots of emails flying back and forth, I can’t work out of my inbox, I wouldn’t get any work done etc. I signed off with NNR — no need to reply (one of Erica’s recommendations) which went down like a lead balloon. I got an email back saying ‘I’m not going to respond to that.’ Cultural differences ;-)
Great tips on how to model digital body language for your teams, inclusive language, digital empathy, how to enhance customer experience through words, gender differences in language, and emoji as the universal language. Her top tips? We need to slow down, assume the best intentions from people, think about how we make them feel, and put ourselves in their shoes.
And a great lesson in resilience. Publishers told her the book was too niche, but its time has come — it was #3 on the WSJ Bestseller list 👏
As Seth Godin says, it’s a salve for exhausted Zoomers.
We write the talk, not talk the talk in 2021
Julie Sweet, CEO of Accenture says the way you write your emails can make or break your career. The best investment you can make is to develop one overlooked skill: written communication.
What’s the greatest advice I give? Develop excellent communication skills. Both in-person and in writing, such as when using email.
An employee, even a very junior person, if they can articulately summarize a meeting, if they can put together a presentation and even emails that are really salient and to the point, they are so valued.
Even more relevant given face to face communication is on the decline, remote work on the rise, and we’re spending more time alone, staring at our screens.
Mildly terrifying to think about how traditional body language is being shaped by our digital body language. What digital behaviours will we carry over in this new hybrid world? Will we be speaking in bullet points? Avoiding eye contact and sitting two metres apart in meetings? It’s a new frontier!
A bit sad to read that unscheduled calls are perceived as intrusive and ‘as far as booking sales meetings were concerned, it seemed that the strategy with the least human interaction [setting up meetings via Calendly] delivered the most success.’ Where does this leave us? Loneliness is an epidemic and we have an empathy crisis. A YouGov poll found 30% of millennials said they always or often feel lonely, compared to 20% of Generation X and just 15% of baby boomers. It doesn’t ask why — but previous studies show social media and internet addiction play a part.
A phone call is worth a thousand emails — and it’s becoming an obsolete art! We need a new ad campaign. As Bob Hoskins said, it’s good to talk.
👋 The Zoom wave
I can’t resist the urge to wave at the end of Zoom calls — glad to see I’m not alone. ‘I have never felt the need to wave in person,’ Kennedy, 36, the chief communications and marketing officer for the city of Olathe, Kansas, said. ‘What am I doing?’ Apparently, it’s a good thing. I’m not socially inept.
Tools + resources →
📹 Erica’s Podcast interview with Rohit Bhargava: How to communicate with digital body language
🙇🏻♀️ Digital Body Language course
Hilarious thread from Danielle Rene on your favourite phrases to use in a professional clap back — those passive-aggressive emails.
- Just a gentle reminder
- As we discussed previously (See attached email)…
- lmao nothing is more passive-aggressive than “PLEASE ADVISE…”
- If I’m feeling Big Petty I’ll hit them with… I’m not sure where your confusion comes from, but allow me to clarify..
- Thank You in advance for your prompt response. I look forward to hearing from you.
- Subject line: ‘Friendly reminder’
Vyv Evans on why emoji is the universal language. And it’s making us better communicators 😍
James Clear on writing as leadership at scale
A new WHO study finds working over 55 hours per week is considered a ‘serious health hazard’
Playlist of the week →
9 essential podcasts for remote workers, managers + teams
The future of work is now
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Originally published at https://niccitalbot.substack.com.
