18 August 2005

Generation Y vs Technology

Generation Y are the first demographic to have used computers to the extent that their operation is second nature. Our parents, on the whole, are flummoxed by the whole idea.

But, and hear me out, will there come a time when The Nintendo Generation is, itself, flummoxed by new technology? Has our presence at the inception of a such a pervasive technology future-proofed us against new ideas?

Picture the scene; you're sat on the couch playing the latest beat-em-up with Junior using the thought-controller and he's Kicking Your Ass. Do you; a) accept defeat gracefully?, b) ignore the fact that he was deliberately not trying too hard so you don't feel bad?, c) curse loudly, colourfully and at length that, if you'd had a joypad, you'd have kicked his ass?,

When we finally give in and get one of those new-fangled cranial implants (after swearing blind for years that "you'll never catch someone sticking one of those things in my skull!"), will we be unable to do the next-gen equivalent of double-clicking?

The answer, certainly and depressingly, is yes. Because, even if our mental faculties render keeping up possible, the relentless tide of technological advancement will be such that, at some point, we'll realise that trying to keep up is pointless and make do with what we've got. Either that, or, since keeping up requires the equivalent of the defence budget of small Middle-Eastern military states, fiscal constraints will kick in, as they are wont to do.

So it looks like, as with our parents, we are destined to fall behind in the great march towards technological oneness. To be honest, by that point, we'll probably be quite happy not to have peed ourselves.

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