I have always thought that I was part of the ‘Technology is everywhere’ generation. However after doing some research I was intrigued to find out that this is not the case! Apparently, there are three fairly distinct generations but I am finding it all very confusing so in an effort to simplify things, here are my personal definitions of each generation: Generation X (or gen x)- is the Generation born after the World War 2 baby boom, covering the 60’s, 70’s and ending in the early 80’s. From my research, it seems that definitions vary from geographical location and the fact that each decade that this generation stems from is very different.
Generation Y (this is the category I belong to) spans from the late 70’s to the early 00’s. Again, this varies due to the social and economic issues. I was really interested to find out and perhaps a little amused, that this generation is often referred to as the ‘Peter Pan Generation’ the generation who do not wants to grow up and delays some ‘rites of passage’. For Instance, going to university instead of getting a job straight from school, economic conditions are a primary factor for this. The Peter Pan factor can also bring up many other issues, such as: what does it mean to be an Adult?
Generation Z (or the net generation) is defined as: people born from the mid 90’s to early 2010. This category sperms from being ‘highly connected’ and lifelong users of technology, another word for this could be ‘Digital natives’. This group didn’t exist in a word without technology and are seen to be more ‘inclined’ to use it more so than older generations.
So in these terms I am part of the ‘middle’ generation’ because I was born in an age (1988) where technology was still advancing. Granted, I can’t really remember a time where technology wasn’t really a part of my world- the fact of the matter is that when I was born- my parents bought me to a home that lacked connectivity- no personal computer and certainly no mobile phones (how times change).
However, it can also be argued that the generations are all falling upon the same path. We all use technology in our day to day life, however in terms of my generation; the usability of technology is more so demonstrated in the work place so it is centred more on industry connectivity- furthermore the generation where economic conditions were a big factor are now funding the ‘economic machine’ in terms of using technology in jobs where it is now paramount to promote 100% usability. This is probably a lot more important than the Generation Z (who from my research the oldest would be around the 15/16 mark) who would use technology more so for educational & recreational purposes rather than using it in a job. My whole point being that yes, technology is used by all three generations however the way and reasons it is used varies.
I have often thought that I grew up in a technology driven society, and I still do think that I did grow up in a technology advancing world. However I have realised that being born in the late 80’s, puts me in the Peter Pan generation- and really I think I am quite proud to have been born then- right at the start of the new technology age! Furthermore, looking at all this can really be helpful in realising how we have shaped today’s world.
posted by Kate at 06:43
thanks
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