Technologies and Generation

Yesterday I witnessed an interesting incident on the tube. A young man found an empty space on the tube and sat down. In fact, he took quiet a lot of space and pushed me sitting on one side and the young woman sitting on the other side from the armrests. The young woman was completing a crossword puzzle and was very annoyed to be pushed aside like this. She complained and a little fight between the two evolved. It was interesting how different both of them were. He dressed in a suit like a property agent and she reminded me a lot of Amy Winehouse. However they were rather similar in other aspects: both of them were 20 years old, had an iPod plugged in their ears and got out their mobile phone as soon as the tube went over ground. Despite their many differences these two people from the iPod generation shared many things in common. Above all they are technology savvy and not afraid of using technology. Much of their social time is spent using technologies like mobile phones or they are on networking sites such as MySpace and FaceBook. In previous generations there was always the assumption that women are less interested and less well versed with technology. Observing this younger generation that grew up with the internet and new technologies, the rules for gender and technology might be different. But maybe it is far less a generational thing than a question of how technology is designed, marketed and used.