My Smartphone and Me: It’s Not Just Millennials Who Are Hooked

Gen 2 Gen Chat

I admit that I, like many others today from Gen Z to Baby Boomers,  am attached to my smartphone.  I actually suffer some anxiety when I don’t have it with me, or can’t get to it when I hear it buzzing, alerting me of a notification or text message. The fact that I can do almost anything I need to do during the course of my day using my smartphone is of incredible value to me. From doing research to shopping to navigating my way to a new location (or an old one); to keeping abreast of current events and staying in touch with friends and family, I rely on my phone. My minutes of talk time are minimal compared to my data (lots of apps) and text usage.  Ironically, the task for which I use my smartphone  the least is to “talk”.  If I could take one material thing…

View original post 384 more words

No Regrets About Being A Helicopter Parent

Gen 2 Gen Chat

I’m far from being a parenting expert.  I can only speak to my experiences raising three children, but I think helicopter parenting sometimes gets a bad rap. Of course, you shouldn’t attend your adult child’s job interview, or call his/her boss regarding a bad performance review!  Ultimately we all want our children to grow up to be self-sufficient, confident adults.  Helicopter parents are often accused of directing rather than guiding, but in my opinion, some children need the extra direction. Sure, most of us have overstepped the hovering boundaries on occasion, but directing children during their younger years may have its benefits.  Children have differing levels of maturity and self-confidence, and there’s nothing wrong with hovering when a child needs it, or when the parent feels the child’s situation warrants extra monitoring for whatever reason. I saw the difference it made for my children because I was there to advocate for them during…

View original post 452 more words

How My Appearance Affects My Daily Commute

Gen 2 Gen Chat

Like it or not, every day we are judged by how we look, how we dress, how we carry ourselves.

I’m a Millennial living and working in New York for just over a year.  I make the commute from Long Island to Manhattan every day and a large portion of my time and paycheck is spent on public transportation.  One of the observations I’ve made on my commute is how much better I’m treated when my appearance is “better”.

The dress code in my office is very casual, a very “jeans-friendly” place. On occasion, though, I put a little more effort into my appearance.  I’ll throw on a dress or a nice blouse and maybe take an extra few minutes on my makeup. All of the sudden public transportation is no longer burdensome. I am offered a seat on crowded trains, doors magically open for me, and I receive smiles…

View original post 375 more words

Civility And Courtesy Shouldn’t Be Optional. Our Children Are Watching. — Gen 2 Gen Chat

Civility and courtesy, the outward expressions of human decency, are the proverbial glue that holds society together- qualities that are more important than ever in today’s complex and changing world. Emily Post’s Etiquette, 19th Edition I have been so disheartened by the lack of civility we are witnessing from the Oval Office these days. What […]

via Civility And Courtesy Shouldn’t Be Optional. Our Children Are Watching. — Gen 2 Gen Chat

Don’t Judge Me Because I Still Have An AOL Email Account

Gen 2 Gen Chat

There’s not much that screams “senior” or “technophobe” more loudly in the digital age than an AOL.com email address.  You should see the looks I get when I give someone my AOL email address in 2017!  I’ve even been asked on occasion if I have another email I’d prefer to use.  Truth be told, I have a Gmail account, and several gmail.com email addresses, and I’m no technophobe.  I actually teach social media and digital marketing courses.  I use my more socially acceptable email accounts in professional or business situations, and I would never, ever give my AOL.com email when applying for a job.  Believe me, I would be judged if I did!

We became an AOL.com family sometime in the mid-ninties.  Remember the complimentary installation CDs you could pick up from the displays at the register at Blockbuster Video or the drug store?  AOl.com (also known as America Online)…

View original post 318 more words

Live Chat, Social Media Or Phone? Which Do You Prefer For Customer Support?

Gen 2 Gen Chat

I’m not normally an impatient person, but I can’t think of anything that can be more of a time suck than being placed on hold by a company’s customer support department for long periods of time, often leading to my disconnecting because I have run out of time and patience.  You know you are in trouble when you hear a recorded message at the very beginning of your call: “Your wait time is approximately 45 minutes”!

Valuing a customer’s time is critical to great customer service.  Online live chat is proving to be one of the best service channels for meeting customers’ needs throughout their journey, from first contact through post-sale support. As an online tool, it meets customers in the very place they increasingly turn for answers: the Internet. And unlike other channels such as email, live chat provides instant support, with minimal customer effort required.

Since the arrival of…

View original post 380 more words

Am I The Only Boomer Not “Feelin” Airbnb?

Gen 2 Gen Chat

Have You Embraced The Trendy Airbnb Lodging Accommodations For Your Leisure Travel?  Would You Open Your Home As A Host?

Let me preface my story by saying I’m often an early adopter of new products and services.  I ordered my children’s holiday toys online before it was a trend, or even reliable.  I jumped into an Uber the moment I heard if was available in my area.  However, some new products and services take a while to grow on me.   Airbnb may be one of them.

I recently took a mini-vacation with my millennial daughters.   I was both excited and apprehensive about my first Airbnb experience.  I figured the place would be either a dive or very nice, no “in-between”.  The photos of the apartment on the website looked appealing, and it was in a desirable urban location.  When we arrived, there was a little trouble picking up…

View original post 535 more words

Connecting Generations Through Food

Gen 2 Gen Chat

I don’t know whether it’s the anticipation of fall and the holiday season, or the recent havoc wreaked by Hurricane Harvey on families on the Texas Gulf Coast, or a combination of both, but I’ve been thinking a lot about comfort foods, preserving family recipes (many may have been lost in the hurricane), and the ties that bind families.  Everyone needs food, and meals have been a symbol throughout the ages of sharing, and nurturing one another.

Family recipes are a way of keeping our ancestry alive, as well as a part of ourselves.  Food can evoke vivid memories of our childhood, of our relationships with family members who have passed away and of who we were during that time period.  Food can remind us of experiences long forgotten and allow us to relive feelings of comfort, satisfaction or excitement.  Preserving family recipes allow emotions any time we choose, whether…

View original post 409 more words

Post Charlottesville, Doing Nothing Isn’t An Option For Millennials Or The Rest Of Us

Gen 2 Gen Chat

I’m still trying to process what happened in Charlottesville, the president’s response, and how these events will impact our youngest generations.   As an African-American baby boomer, with parents and grandparents who were active in the civil rights movement and who experienced the impact of racism for much of their lives, I know they expected their struggle to result in a more tolerant and inclusive country for my generation and those coming after me.  My generation, along with generation X, is not naive to the fact that overt and covert forms of racism are still alive and well, although we benefited greatly from the movements championed by those who came before us.  As I watched the tragic events in Charlottesville, I was unfortunately not shocked to see white nationalist groups spewing hateful rhetoric, but I was outraged by the violence that ended in the tragic death of a hope…

View original post 358 more words

Generation Z Goes To College

Gen 2 Gen Chat

It’s back to school time, and my youngest nephew is among the thousands of young people heading off to college.  My nephew was born in 1999, a year that conjures up great memories for me, including our family vacation to Disney World, and Prince’s popular song lyrics.  It had never occurred to me until recently that while eight of my nieces and nephews (along with my children) are Millennials, the younger two are members of another generation, Generation Z.  These younger family members quietly watched and learned life lessons from their older Millennial cousins. Who is Generation Z, and what makes them different from Millennials?   Generation Z, according to most sources, consists of those born between 1996 and 2010.  The oldest members are graduating from college and entering the workplace, while the youngest are just seven years old. Since Gen Z members are still largely kids and adolescents, many of…

View original post 503 more words