Don't tell the grandparents, but they're slowly being supplanted by the Google search engine.
A study released this week claims that websites like Google, Wikipedia and YouTube have replaced grandmothers and grandfathers as the primary source of wisdom. When kids today need to learn how to change a tire or obtain details of life during the Great Depression, they instinctively turn to the Internet rather than their family elders.
According to the recent survey, fewer than one in four grandparents said they were routinely asked for advice on matters like family recipes. Only one-third of grandparents said their grandkids had ever asked them about their youth. And the really sad part: A majority told surveyors they felt their role as grandparents was becoming obsolete.
Almost all the grandparents surveyed said they asked far more questions of their grandparents when they were young . In a parallel study, one of three seniors said they felt extremely lucky if they even saw their grandchildren once a month.
Seniors, meanwhile, are looking to the future, or at least piling up debt at record rates . If the grandkids aren't coming by to visit, they might as well burn up the inheritance, right?
But whatever happened to the timeless tradition of children sitting by the feet of their elders and absorbing valuable life advice? Short of throwing the kids laptops and tablets in the trash, is there any way to reverse the trend? What do you think?