Generational distinctions seem to make less and less sense every year. When it comes over the topic of generations, there always have some interesting debate going on, each generation has wanted to define itself a more sophisticated, transformative or better than the generation before it.
Every generation thinks that they are the first. The first to feel this way or that, the first to make this or that revelation, the first to do and make things that we find later have been done and made since before we could record their doing and making. But while these illusory and fleeting firsts are common to every generation, there are true firsts being achieved constantly, though they are often subtle enough that they are not noticed even by those in their midst.
No matter which generation you are, I expect we all want to think that we’re special and that we’ll change the world. There’s been a lot of talk about how the next generation (whichever that happens to be) is going to change the world. We had it with the Greatest Generation. We had it with the Pre-Boomers and Baby Boomers. We had it with Gen X. We had it with Gen Y. Now we have it with Gen I.
In the article of Tech-savvy ‘iGeneration’ kids multi-task, connect, it classify Generation Y as “old”, and the focused is shifting on to the next generation coming through. Folk born post 1990 are already being labeled as “iGeneration” to replacing Gen Y as the digital natives. As the pace of change accelerates, the date ranges we use to define generations has shrunk.
TechCrunch recently has an interesting article toward Generation I, this iGeneration’ brains are developing in ways where they’re taking in astronomical amounts of information, screening out unimportant details and focusing on the parts they need, they are expecting innovation. Below are some excerpt from the article.
Google+Generation I is the middle child of the information age. To be born a few years earlier would mean to see the personal computer and the internet as an new and exciting gadget, like the VCR or Walkman. A few years later would be to arrive late to the show: to grow up in the presence of computers, smartphones, and the internet, but not to grow up with them. Taken for granted, these things become black boxes; on the other hand, seen as just another set of devices and applications, they lose their transformational potential.
Generation I reflects the burst of technology which in the last decade (as we ourselves have made our real-world debut), has become commonplace, and the prefix “i-” has become a universal indicator of tech. Yes, it’s a bit of a capitulation to Apple, but let’s not fool ourselves: the iPod and iMac immediately became so synonymous with personal technology that i- became generic almost overnight. So we’ve got Generation i. To be honest, I’m not sure if I prefer i or I. I think that, like other instances of the letter, capitalization may vary.
Generation I is also Generation Me: the increasing independence and compartmentalization of the social order that is the result of the personal computer and the internet, our totem technologies. It’s the paradox of instant connection and constant isolation.
And Generation I is Generation One. This is the most important of all. The coincidence of timing that resulted in us being born with silicon in our mouths also charges us with a serious responsibility – though what it may be is yet unknown. No generation is warned of the tribulations ahead, though with luck our task will be suited to our unique position. But why the One? If, as I suspect, we are in fact the first wave of a new, tech-integrative sort of people, then surely the kids born after us, into a world already possessing high-speed internet, Wikipedia, and GPS smartphones, are Generation II. What better than to start giving version numbers to our offspring? …. Continuing read entire article here
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