What is the technological generation?

The term technological generation is a neologism that is used to refer to the group of the world population that feels affinity for the technological advances of the moment, especially in telecommunications.

Although many individuals take advantage of technological advances, the term technological generation refers mainly to the individuals who grew up hand in hand with these advances. That is, young people born from the 1980s to now.

It should be noted that in the last decade there has been a social phenomenon of dependence on technology, which mainly involves young people between the ages of 10 and 20.

Individuals between these ages mainly use the mobile phone, instant messaging services, social networks and the camera. This attachment to technology has contributed to the emergence of a generation gap between the young - adults and the elderly..

The use of technology and age

According to a study by the Pew Research Center (Pew Research Center) of the United States, there is a relationship between the age of individuals and the use of technology.

The data obtained by the study are presented below:

The table shows the percentage of adult Americans who own any of the following items: cell phone, desktop computer, laptop, MP3 player, video game console, e-book reader, and tablet.

As can be seen in the table, the young - adult population (between 18 and 35 years of age) is more technologically active than the older population.

Let's take the cell phone / smartphone for example: 95% of the population between 18 and 34 own one. In contrast, only 84% of individuals between 57 and 65 years old own one. The figure decreases considerably as age increases..

In this sense, the study carried out by the Pew Research Center shows that the person-technology relationship is stronger the younger you are..

The explanation for this phenomenon is that individuals between 18 and 25 years old were born and raised with these technological advances..

For their part, individuals between 26 and 46 years old were able to adapt satisfactorily to these technological changes, incorporating them into their day-to-day life..

Use of technology and its relation to age

The study conducted by the Pew Research Center also showed that technology use varies with age. Two examples that demonstrate this statement are the use of the cell phone and the internet..

Regarding the use of cell phones, the study showed that within the technological generation there is a subgroup that has developed a certain affinity towards these devices.

This subgroup is made up of young people between 10 and 20 years of age, who use the cell phone as if it were an extension of themselves.

The most common activities are: taking photos (mainly selfies), sending messages, playing games, checking social networks (mainly tumblr and Twitter), listening to music and recording videos.

For its part, the adult faction of the technological generation (between 25 and 35 years of age) use the cell phone as a means of communication. The use of social networks is also common among adults, with Facebook and Instagram being the most visited.

With regard to the internet, 92% of adolescents use it to socialize, play games, shop online and do research. 97% of adults use the internet to socialize and for work reasons.

The generation gap and technology

Clearly, there is a generation gap between the youngest members of the population and the older adults..

This is not a novel phenomenon since it is natural that there are cultural, social and political differences from one generation to another: our interests will not be the same as those of our parents or our grandparents.

However, with current advances in technology, the separation between generations has increased dramatically.

Throughout history, technological changes have occurred gradually, without causing obvious cultural differences to the naked eye..

However, in the last two decades, technological advances have occurred so rapidly that the population over 50 years of age has not been able to adapt satisfactorily to them..

Instead, young people have grown up with these advances, they have been transformed into fashions and ways of being popular: it is common to see friends competing for who has the most followers on Twitter or which post gets the most reposts on Tumblr..

Young people spend so much time with telecommunications devices that they have earned the names of the “connected generation” and the “iGeneration”.

References

1. Suren Ramasubbu. From Gen X to Y and Z: Technology and the Generation Gap. Retrieved on July 25, 2017, from huffpost.com
2. The young generation are addicted to mobile phones. Retrieved on July 25, 2017, from telegraph.co.uk
3. Growing up with the wired generation. Retrieved on July 25, 2017, from theguardian.com
4. The growing technological generation gap. Retrieved on July 25, 2017, from theindustry.cc
5. Understanding the Technological Generation Gap. Retrieved on July 25, 2017, from csudh.edu
6. Von Tunzelmann (2000). Technology generation, technology use and economic growth. Retrieved on July 25, 2017, from jstor.org
7. The Digital Divide: A Technological Generation Gap Retrieved on July 25, 2017.