Generational arrogance

I disagree with the way that Boomers think; more accurately are portrayed, as being something fundamentally different (special) from their parents. Their uniqueness, which is often a coded way of saying superiority, is greatly over-rated.

In the same way I think it is equally naive that younger people are portrayed as being fundamentally different from their parents as a result of the fusing of their DNA and silicon, resulting in the “digital native” and other such labels.

I was just reading an article in the Booz&co strategy magazine about Generation C – yep you guessed it – Generation Connected. You might need to register to read the article. It is free and is worthwhile since most of the articles are excellent.

This is one of the comments that I find hard to take.

They’ve grown up under the influence of Harry Potter, Barack Obama, and iEverything — iPods, iTunes, iPhones. Technology is so intimately woven into their lives that the baby boom–era concept of “early adopters” is essentially meaningless.

This assumes that today’s young people have reached the pinnacle of technology adoption. What nonsense. As long as there is Silicon Valley and increasingly Shanghai and Bangalore there will be new technologies that only a few people will initially want, be able to afford, understand, be geeky enough etc. etc. to buy. Believe me, ‘early adopters’ are going to be around for a long time to come.

The article goes on.

Generation C will distance itself further, particularly in the development of its own pervasive culture of communication. That culture has led some observers to dub this group “the silent generation,” as digital communication channels have replaced much of the physical interaction typical of prior generations.

This all makes interesting futuristic guesswork but I really don’t think it is founded in much of a base of fact or common sense. Dick Stroud