Chris reached out to his college aged son to ask if he wanted to go on vacation with the family. But he called instead of texting him and his son didn’t respond. So he e-mailed. Still no response. So they went without him. Now is son is angry that he missed the trip and insists that if dad wanted to reach him he should text, because people his age don’t call, they only text. Did Chris do the wrong thing by going on vacation without his son? Or is the son right to be angry that his dad called him instead of texting him?
Ayla Brown: Hi, Chris. I’m so glad you called in. I read your message and thought we need to get to the bottom of this. So what happened between you and your son?
Chris: Well, I was excited to go on a family trip. I got this great package deal, and I was so excited to get my son back home with us because he’s in his first year in college, we miss him. We wanted him to come back with us. But you know how these Gen Zers are with communication. So I thought I was doing the right thing by calling him, emailing him. Okay.
Ayla Brown: And so you called. So hold on. You called him saying what exactly? Like you picked up the phone. You said, Hey, Dalton.
Chris: No, he didn’t answer. Of course, you know, too cool for Dad, right? So I left him a message about what we were planning on doing. I was excited, and I was hoping he’d want to go with us. But he didn’t respond. So I said, okay, I’ll send you an email because, you know, in school technology, they use all those emails nowadays.
Ayla Brown: Sure. So they communicate, right?
Chris: That’s what I thought. So we end up going and then I hear from Dalton. He’s mad at me because I didn’t contact him. Well, I guess for these kids, the way to contact him is a text message, not calling. I don’t know what to do.
Ayla Brown: Hold the phone literally and call me. Don’t text me. Wait, so you’re saying you made all these efforts, you called your son, you said, Hey, I got this last minute trip. Do you want to come with us? Call me back. He never called you back and you emailed him. He never emailed you back.
Chris: Exactly
Ayla Brown: And then he found out that you guys went on the trip. And afterwards he got mad saying, Dad, you didn’t communicate with me. Because you called instead of texting him. Don’t you know people my age, we text, we don’t call each other.
Chris: I figured after all these years he’d realize that I barely text. You know, it’s easier to call because every time I send a text to someone, they think I’m mad at them. I’d rather just call my son so he’s not mad at me. I don’t know. And now he’s mad at me.
Ayla Brown: Anyway, so you guys actually left him? Well, not at home. He’s in college. But you left him out of the trip. You never brought him, huh?
Chris: Yeah. Well, you see, he’s a man now, and he made his choice, so I thought. And I wasn’t gonna chase him down. You know, I thought I was doing the right thing.
Ayla Brown: Man. This comes down to the difference between Gen Z and Boomers? I’m a millennial, so I’m kind of in the middle where I like to text, and I also like to call. But boomers, which I believe is your age, not to put you in a box or anything, but you’re all about picking up the phone to call. But the Gen Z generation, I don’t think any of them pick up the phone and call. So he probably felt really left out. But who am I to say I don’t know anything? I don’t have kids this these ages. Maybe there’s people listening who have children who are your son’s age. Chris, thank you.
Chris: Thank you.
