Technology: The Generation Game
Thursday 29th September 2016 – 08:30-09:30
The Happenstance, 1a Ludgate Hill, London EC4M 7AA
Human beings as a species are defined by their relationship to technology. None other can produce fire at will, traverse oceans in a matter of hours, or send funny videos to colleagues electronically. While our collective relationship to technology is species defining, our individual identities and our relationships to tech are heavily contingent on our progress through our human journeys.
Douglas Adams wrote that “anything that is in the world when you’re born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural part of the way the world works. Anything that’s invented between when you’re fifteen and thirty-five is new and exciting and revolutionary and you can probably get a career in it. Anything invented after you’re thirty-five is against the natural order of things”.
We live in an age of ‘generational equipoise’ with four substantial, evenly sized generational cohorts existing at one time, and within this there appears to be a split, the digital haves and have-nots. While of course, many aged over 35 will feel that they are more than comfortable with the emerging technology of the day, there remains a grain of truth in Adams’ quote. Many older people will be accustomed to putting their Fitbit on in the morning, but few will be using Snapchat or playing Pokemon Go.
Technology is being assimilated into our daily lives, but the extent, and the effect of this assimilation will differ greatly across generational boundaries. Join us on the 29th of September as we explore these differences and what they mean for our future.
Get Smarter Over Breakfast
Our Trends Breakfasts have been running for over three years, and each month sees a different topic discussed and debated over coffee and croissants. Taking place in the private room of a popular city location, an array of figures from different industries hear our thoughts on the chosen topic, which often draws on latest findings from our global attitudes and values survey, Trajectory Global Foresight.
Please email us (info@trajectorypartnership.com) to reserve your place for free and join us for breakfast.