Recently, while enjoying a sunny afternoon with some friends, a few baby boomers I know were relating some experiences that seem quite pertinent to the subject of how communication is or will change. Young Aaron, the son of a guest, was at a loss when told to call home. It seems our young guest had never had to use a rotary telephone. Confronted with this icon of past technology, Aaron went away with a new experience to relate . Another guest, upon hearing of Aaron's plight, related a similar experience. It seems that Diane had given her son a watch for Christmas. This wristwatch, complete with hands and a face was foreign to this young child who has had the time electronically flashed at him in numeric form for all of his life, without need of knowing how to tell time conventionally .
The other side of the coin had Alastair, a telecommunication hardware designer at Nortel, telling of his two daughters, Madeline and Sophie.
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Peak Tor/Aaron Hole Plantation near Rowsley in Der...
English: A photo of the Difference Engine construc...Eight year old Madeline likes to change the desktop pattern on their home work terminal weekly, while four year old Sophie actually starts up the computer and opens her coloring book program. Although these girls have the advantage of having a hardware designer for a father, it is astounding how fast and early children learn new technologies .
So it seems in this day and age, that the old continues to be replaced by newer and faster mechanical contrivances. We in turn are caused to learn newer and faster ways of dealing with these new technologies, which bombard us daily. The problem with technology is not the change it creates, but the fact that it grows at an alarming rate.
In other words, as technology grows it will bring about change more rapidly. In dealing...