The Anniversary Dinner - A Story
Monday, May 14, 2012 at 7:09PM “The young app, although not used to taking her meals this way, sat down at the table for the celebratory anniversary dinner of her grandparents. She dearly loved her grandparents, two successful web companies, and they had taught her much. She considered herself especially fortunate to have grandparents who always listened to her ideas, discussed them with her and acknowledged that she lived in times different to the ones they had grown up in.
She knew too that not all her friends were that lucky. Many complained that they were written off as being young upstarts with no idea of what they were talking about.
Her grandparents were an exception, in that most web companies of their age, were used to presenting the data they had created to viewers who received the content passively with no ways of responding. “This is how it is; take it or leave it” was the motto often heard in the corridors of their upbringing. There were traditions that had to be followed if they were to succeed. Search engines puffed through the countrysides of their days.
Their brothers and sisters in the entertainment industry had known that in return for their hard work, the passive viewer could be subjected to commercials. It was the price that had to be paid to view what one was interested in.
Also present at the dinner were her parents, both successful social websites in their different ways. It was her father who suggested that as an after dinner event they share stories of the worlds they grew up in. Hearing circumstances and world views across generations often led to heated discussion but could also lead to better understanding.
Social connections were the “in” thing for her parents. In their youth, they had developed emails and blogs before going on to become social websites, always however, with the aid of the trustworthy tool used by their parents - the computer..
Her grandparents, the 1994-2001 generation, had friends called Yahoo, Google, Amazon and eBay. Her parents, born between 2002 and 2009 liked to hang out with guys like Facebook and LinkedIn. They ran their own blogs, posted their pics on Flickr and were recently Twitter experts. She, although only almost three years old, knew what it was to make it possible for people to communicate with each other even when away from their desktops and laptops. She thought topless was a cool concept, much to the shock of the other generations present!
The young app looked around her, aware that she was totally mobile. With the aid of smartphones and tablets she could help people reach an audience and communicate with them in ways unheard of only two years ago! Mobile interaction lay at the core of what she stood for. Only yesterday she had met her cousin Instagram to discuss the benefits of being born an app. Reachability was her second name, something that had not always been possible with computers. Many of her friends had no intention of ever launching a website!
Some of her grandparents’ friends had tried to adapt to the times but their apps were only simple versions of the desktop experience. Some, and only some, of her parents’ friends had more easily adapted but were still trying to make the subtle shifts required of them.
She was fully aware that the tech world was speeding up. Soon she too would bear offspring. What the child would be she was not totally sure. Perhaps, she thought, as she excused herself from the confines of the dinner table, she should ask Siri!”
The chances that you have just read the above story on a mobile device are great. The concept of here2here is ever evolving and always fascinates me.
Eric Jackson in a recent article in the Forbes Magazine has suggested that Google and Facebook might disappear in the next five to eight years. His article, which I invite you to read, set off my thinking and resulted in the above story as an alternative way of looking at technology.
There will always be previous stages present no matter what stage a technology has reached. That is the nature of evolution. Learning to transcend and include what has gone before is key to healthy development and failure to do so can lead to regression.
These are challenges that face both the creators and users of new technologies, as the evolutionary train of technology speeds up to reach what only appears to be a futuristic destination.
Reader Comments (2)
A great way of looking at the rapidly changing world of technology, Linda! With technology, I fall into the category of one who embraces change only when it suits me....and hates change when it forces me into a sharp learning curve - at which times I am ever so thankful I have children!
You've shifted my perspective just a bit...and perhaps enough to begin offering small hugs to the changes sure to come...
Terri
Hi Terri
Children certainly are a great help when it comes to change. I am happy this piece helped to shift your perspective just a bit. Perhaps I should have included an aunt at the table, watching the scenario with interest, apprehensiion and understanding!
Linda