Generation A

I would pose to you a concept or theory that we are now in a generation that is evolving faster than at any other period of time in the history of man-kind. I was reading an article in Forbes this morning that spoke on the changing business climate that has been brought about through the internet and social media outlets such as: twitter, facebook, and linkdIn. The writer Adam Ludwig also makes mention the influence of social media in the Arab world where millions of citizens are reaching to overthrow their government.

The rate at which we send and receive information is staggering. Television its self- once a bright and informing tool, now is now nearly obsolete while TV and film industries race to try to figure out how to make money. What do you watch TV for? You probably watch it for the sitcoms and sports. But have you ever thought about how behind the news channel might be? Through twitter, and facebook, we knew Osama Bin Laden had died before any new organization could get through to their TV audiences and certainly hours (or maybe an hour?) before President Obama could make an announcement.

The article speaks about the boom of internet entrepreneurs that are setting up shop to help us socialize more proficiently. For instance, rypple.com is a new internet company (I had never heard of) that let's employees rate and review other employees, company policies, and general business news as it happens, providing a more transparent business culture within the company.

The article touches and transparency, but I would also like to make a mention of what I would consider a new generation. Generation A- or "Generation Acceleration". The simple fact of the matter is, yes we are in the information age, and the information age is probably never going to stop. But the rate at which we digest information is accelerating exponentially.

Here's a normal day for me, much like many others

• Wake up, and read new emails received.
• Get dressed and go to work, on the way to work, read emails, or news feed
• Get new work load, and work
• throughout day, text, facebook, twitter and read news feed
• finish work
• keep reading text, facebook, twitter and news feed
• Right before to bed, read text, facebook twitter and news feed
• sleep, and get woken up to texts and such

It is true that kids in K-12 are being taught about the importance of 8 hours of sleep because teenagers are sleeping with their cellphones. We adults are doing it too, though maybe we are slightly more mature, or don't care enough to let ANYTHING get in our way of a full nights rest, but you can see an accelerating trend on the information we are receiving. It will not be too long when every single culture is watching their government or local business more than the government or local business can watch them in return.

What an exciting time to be able to watch things so quickly! I know I am only grazing (if that) the surface on these topics, but really the acceleration of media and news that goes into our minds is staggering! My girlfriend and I are starting a new little hobby where we study an ancient civilization for a month at a time. Next month we are studying ancient Egypt, and most of our time will be looking through online databases for information, and visiting a museum in San Jose. It is wild that so much information can be found within a months time.