FRANCISCO'S GENERATION

FRANCISCO’S GENERATION



He was pretty small for his age of nine. At first look I thought he was not yet going to school and was there to follow the internet operator whom I thought was his sister.

Like me, the boy was there waiting for the opening of the Netcafe to play his favorite games. I got interested in him so while waiting I interviewed him casually. He reminded me of Santino, the smart boy of a current T.V. series.

He said he was the middle of the three siblings. I asked him why he was so early and he said because he wanted to be ahead of everybody since it was Saturday and many were surely coming to play video games. Asked who gave him the money for the game he said it was his own saving from his daily allowance.

Everyday he was given ten pesos by his mother for his recess snack but he save five pesos (half of the allowance) so he could play the video game comes Saturday. I joked that probably the reason why he was small was because he ate only half of his supposed snack daily. He just responded with a thrilled smile. He said his name was Francisco.

Like Francisco, many other children his age were using the same strategy to save money for the weekly game. Some even sacrifice 100% of their allowance just so they could enjoy fully the lure of the modern technology.

I was at the internet Café very early not to play the Video game like Francisco but just to catch up my children who were abroad so I could chat with them before they go to bed. Not so many people of my age were having a hobby like my own but it was to be expected since many adults were no longer interested in learning the new technology.

Back to the Francisco generation the new technology was introducing a massive change in their hobbies, in their values and in their behaviors in general. The gap between generations had gone wider that bonding between parents and children had become more difficult. Parents suddenly turned obsolete as children learned so fast and so quick about the new technologies. Many parents were left behind.