We would do well to ask ourselves why this generation gap has occurred. The fault, as Shakespeare said, is in ourselves. Parents and elders are so busy with themselves that they fail to respond to the needs of their children. The father is out every night with his friends and the mother is busy socializing with hers. The communication gap thus created and the lack of time spent together produce tension.
Young people turn to other things to compensate for what they feel is missing in their own lives.
Many of these things tend to be harmful. Dr Abdul Rahman Al-Oraini, president of the Saudi Computer Society, believes that the advantages of the new information technology outweigh the harm it may cause. I fear that as long as there is regimentation of thought and lack of creativity in the Arab world, we will be incapable of either meeting the challenges successfully or utilizing the advantages of the new technology. In the Arab world, and in the Gulf particularly, there are young men and women who can compete against the best of their Western contemporaries. They need only recognition and encouragement.