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recent company gathering was so uninspiring I couldn’t stop yawning, which was embarrassing because I was sitting in full view of the top leaders.

I was just about to excuse myself and take a break when the staid meeting suddenly erupted in a chorus of laughter. The most revered boss, a man in his late 70s, made my day when he dryly confided he was so technologically unsophisticated that he didn’t know how to reply to a text message.

‘’I belong to the ‘Dinosaur Generation’,’’ he quipped.

His honest joke reenergized me and successfully stifled my yawns, especially because it came from someone not renowned for having a good sense of humor.

After his humorous confession, many images sprang to mind. I realized I belong to the Baby Boomer generation; those born between 1980 and 1995 are the Millennial or Y Generation and youngsters born from 1996 to 2010 are Generation Z.

In the new media idioms, the boss is part of the “Silent Generation” — those born before the 1940s. They were shaped by hard times from the early anti-colonial movements, world wars, the war of independence and all the painful episodes of history.

No wonder the Silents grew up to be diligent, resilient, nationalistic and loyal to their common cause. Their ranks include countless mavericks who blazed the trail of the anticolonial movement, the most notable of which was the Oct. 28, 1928 Youth Pledge conference, from which sprung the determination for Indonesia’s independence. The most famous among them was Sukarno, who proclaimed Indonesia’s independence with M. Hatta.

It is probably why celebrations of Youth Pledge Day on Oct. 28 almost always include parodies, both clichéd and new, of the youths who grew up during the struggle for independence and the divide with those raised in the revolutionary digital era.

When it comes to stereotyping, members of older generations are portrayed as more iconoclastic, idealistic, patriotic and diligent, while Generations Y and Z are generalized as brash, narcissistic, lacking idealism and patriotism and with a tendency to violence.

So while youths of various ethnic, religious and cultural backgrounds came together for a common cause — an independent Indonesia — now skeptics point to the mushrooming of religious- and ethnic-based groups that promote ideologies other than Pancasila, cutting away at the ties that hold the nation together.

While “Dinosaurs” fiercely defend the system, the “smartphone generation” wants to turn the establishment upside down — for good reason. In the past, people would do everything to stay in their jobs because employment was hard to get.

Today, tech gadget-toting Millennials happily leave office jobs after a few years to begin a start-up and do online businesses.

In this mobile and social media-heavy world, they are tech savvy and stay connected by various apps, Snapchat, Line, WhatsApp, Instagram and store their pictures in the Cloud — yes, even the names confuse the Dinosaurs clinging to their old-fashioned, dumb phones!

Generation Alpha, born after 2010, amaze their grannies with their skills at drawing on their tablets that they abuse like a Chinese-made toy. These first true “digital natives” must find it hard even to imagine the pre-internet era.

As technology gallops along, people love to splurge on the latest high-tech gadgets. According to DS Annual Startup Report 2015, 83 million of Indonesia’s 250 million population had access to the internet, with almost 70 percent of them aged 20 to 39 years. Amazingly, the number of active mobile phones reached almost 283 million.

It’s truly amusing to hear Dinosaurs call out their little ones to help them with tech trivialities like replying to an SMS or opening an email.

At home, the new breed of Millennials and Generation Z are our young children. After 6 a.m., everybody in my home rises amid myriad wake-up ringers and beeps — all reminding me I am a Baby Boomer living with Millennials. And I catch up. — Pandaya