The Continuous Digital Divide
There's a ton of talk about differences in the new "digital native" or the growing "digital divide," and the serious consequences that these may have from both a social and economic standpoint. And of course I agree, these monetary gaps leave certain segments of the world under-prepared and falling further behind. But as we're working towards closing these glaring gaps, it should be said that this is a state of normalcy for us. There always has been and always will be a gap between not just poor and rich, but old and new, and the old adapting to new as our renaissance of new technology continues.
But keep in mind that our digital natives of today will look like our parents checking email tomorrow when we gear up into interfaces or non-interfaces like those in Jeff Han's video. The digital divide will exist and will always exist because technology is simply moving faster than our culture is capable of keeping up with. And as it's a question of physiology more than adaptivity, the younger generations will continue to lapse the older at a faster and faster rate.
No conclusions on this one, but it should make all of us question what we're doing now and how we're preparing ourselves to be technologically inept. Because we all will be some day. I guess it's just like most things in that an understanding that there is a short coming is about 75% of the battle.
So when you watch this video, consider that this will probably be closer to the future interaction our babies will have with computers, and no doubt their incessantly text messaging older siblings will still have a tough time getting past the age of the double click.
