We're approaching a world in which multiple demos have different media habits. Why? People take their habits with them as they age. Senior citizens still rely on TV, because they grew up with it. I read recently the average age of video-gamers is about 34, which makes sense since that population was in junior high in the early 1980s when video games took off. And now this young set will grow up multi-consuming media on cell phones with video cameras and GPS while simultaneously watching big flat-screen images fast-forwarded via DVR.
The good news is you can plot how to manage this, by casting today's youth digerati forward in time, and figuring out how your product fits in. In 2039, we'll be stuck with 40- and 50-year-olds playing with social media while the younger set has moved on to telepathy.
loebster
· 5 months ago
Fascinating to ponder, especially as we prepare to send our daughter away for two weeks with the Grandparents in Portland...and realize (horror!) that they don't have WiFi. That's the equivalent of one of our cohort being sent to Granny's farm in Nebraska, circa 1973.
Indeed, their brains are different. They have a different relationship to multiple stimuli. When my daughter says she can't do homework with the TV off, I believe her. There's great discussion of this phenomenon in Stephen Berlin Johnson's "Everything Bad is Good for You."
Alan Wolk
· 5 months ago
@Ben: Interesting about gamers. Been surprised to see how fast social media, FB in particular took off with our cohort and even with Boomers. But agree that we are just at the very start of the revolution and things will change considerably from here.
@Carl: I hear you about the grandparents. When we were at my in-laws about a year ago, my daughter, who was 4 at the time, really did not believe us at first that they didn't have a DVR and that she could only watch shows that were on TV at that particular moment. The inability to hit "pause" and stop the TV was a totally alien concept to her and she really thought we were playing some sort of cruel joke and it wasn't till later in the day that it hit her that mommy and daddy actually grew up like this. (I think both kids still think the thing about only having 3 TV networks is something we made up to amuse them...)
lee
· 5 months ago
I agree there's another generation out there evolving and seeing our world differently. This reminds me of some of the revelations back in 1996 when I was working at a nascent digital agency in Silicon Alley. And one of the partners came back with a presentation from TED (which in itself seemed the height of exotic). Among other things mentioned in the presentation, was that children were spelling their name by saying out loud the letters and then "space" between first and last name. That too seemed exotic and strange to us...although those kids are almost 20 now. It's the new normal, which was the older weird...or somethin like that.
coreyguilbault
· 5 months ago
Alan, interesting read. If you've not picked it up, you should look at Don Tapscotts 'Grown Up Digital'. I have mixed feelings about the book and sort of think it reads like a 'contractual obligation' tome (I've read a couple of his which seemed a little more meaty) but there's some interesting stuff in there if you're willing to sort through it.
I've also always had a thing for the 'unintended consequences' of technology. Similar to the acquired ADD, I've read where the microwave is blamed for undermining the family dinner leaving massive social aftershocks in its wake. All from a device designed to quickly heat chicken to a rubbery grey deliciousness.Then there's McLuhan (who has been all but dismissed since the dotcom crash)pointed out way back when that the lightbulb extended the work day for the world - the effects of that being everything from changes in national GDP to the numerous neurosis we all struggle within in the name of 'a balanced life'.
Thought of in that light who knows what 'the cloud', semantic search and all the other emerging goodies are going to do to our institutions, traditions and rituals.
VinnyWarren
· 5 months ago
great post. funny you should mention this. i just blogged about a tangential issue. see you tomorrow!
I did a presentation on this topic once. My argument was that marketing before the web used to be geographical based (it was geo-targeted). Web 1.0 promised to change it, but didn't because we're still geographically centered people. My best friends growing up lived on my street, went to my school, or lived in my town. I lost touch with them, but thanks to Facebook, reconnected with the ones I wanted to (and some I didn't).
But my daughter could easily be best friends with someone in Australia. Or Toronto. With Skype, Twitter, and the things we can only imagine, she will never really have the option of losing touch with people. Their lifetime gmail or yahoo mail account will be in her address book along with their Facebook Vanity, LinkedIn url, etc.
And while I use the names of things we all know, Facebook, Linkedin, etc, it's more likely that she'll connect to people on a tool that hasn't been invented. Wave 3.0.
And these people will think differently about physical space, and geographical space. I'm not sure what that will mean, but it will be cool.
Promotional Products
· 5 months ago
Nice article, very well written. I think this is a blessing and a problem. It is great to have information at our fingertips and be able to watch, read interact when and how we want to. However, I think this makes marketing more difficult, traditional methods are being thrown away for new digital methods. I think that this will become a problem when people want actual interaction with a human it is going to be hard to come by. Technology and the digital age is a great thing, but I still think there are some drawbacks.
Tom Messner
· 5 months ago
YOU had mentioned a while ago a long ago advertising blog--perhaps the first. On AOL. An ADSIG, as it was known back in the 20th Century. I was going through some old ZIP DRIVE RESIDUE today and cam across a couple of exchanges on it. Probably from between 1994 and 1996. Almost like finding cuneiform or scrolls under a rock. The issues were not much different from today.
Alan Wolk
· 4 months ago
Wow. That is a blast from the past? Do you have a place to post them? It would be fascinating to see the cuneiform.
I'll gladly post them on here if you don't have a home for them.
Tom Messner
· 4 months ago
i think for the people quoted---better that they remain on my zip drive of course, i was===as always===a perfect gentleman aware that somebody would keep them for all eternity.... my name on the exchanges was IRTTOM.....
All Comments
The good news is you can plot how to manage this, by casting today's youth digerati forward in time, and figuring out how your product fits in. In 2039, we'll be stuck with 40- and 50-year-olds playing with social media while the younger set has moved on to telepathy.
Indeed, their brains are different. They have a different relationship to multiple stimuli. When my daughter says she can't do homework with the TV off, I believe her. There's great discussion of this phenomenon in Stephen Berlin Johnson's "Everything Bad is Good for You."
@Carl: I hear you about the grandparents. When we were at my in-laws about a year ago, my daughter, who was 4 at the time, really did not believe us at first that they didn't have a DVR and that she could only watch shows that were on TV at that particular moment. The inability to hit "pause" and stop the TV was a totally alien concept to her and she really thought we were playing some sort of cruel joke and it wasn't till later in the day that it hit her that mommy and daddy actually grew up like this. (I think both kids still think the thing about only having 3 TV networks is something we made up to amuse them...)
I've also always had a thing for the 'unintended consequences' of technology. Similar to the acquired ADD, I've read where the microwave is blamed for undermining the family dinner leaving massive social aftershocks in its wake. All from a device designed to quickly heat chicken to a rubbery grey deliciousness.Then there's McLuhan (who has been all but dismissed since the dotcom crash)pointed out way back when that the lightbulb extended the work day for the world - the effects of that being everything from changes in national GDP to the numerous neurosis we all struggle within in the name of 'a balanced life'.
Thought of in that light who knows what 'the cloud', semantic search and all the other emerging goodies are going to do to our institutions, traditions and rituals.
http://theescapepod.wordpress.com/2009/07/19/th...
But my daughter could easily be best friends with someone in Australia. Or Toronto. With Skype, Twitter, and the things we can only imagine, she will never really have the option of losing touch with people. Their lifetime gmail or yahoo mail account will be in her address book along with their Facebook Vanity, LinkedIn url, etc.
And while I use the names of things we all know, Facebook, Linkedin, etc, it's more likely that she'll connect to people on a tool that hasn't been invented. Wave 3.0.
And these people will think differently about physical space, and geographical space. I'm not sure what that will mean, but it will be cool.
I was going through some old ZIP DRIVE RESIDUE today and cam across a couple of exchanges on it. Probably from between 1994 and 1996. Almost like finding cuneiform or scrolls under a rock.
The issues were not much different from today.
Do you have a place to post them?
It would be fascinating to see the cuneiform.
I'll gladly post them on here if you don't have a home for them.
of course, i was===as always===a perfect gentleman aware that somebody would keep them for all eternity....
my name on the exchanges was IRTTOM.....