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In our article titled, “Mapping the M-Gen,” we begin by saying, “If you’re reading this article and you’re over six years old, you’re out of control.” Meaning, you are no longer in control…of technology.

It wasn’t too long ago that generations were measured in 20 year increments; then 10 years. Now, it’s down to 5 years. But, the new common denominator has less to do with demography and everything to do with your adopted technology or what’s in your cultural tool box.

Brad Stone provides us insight into what is now second nature or a New Nature: Comfort and familiarity in the cyberspace grid—The age of instant information, access and response…bringing us to technology that is intuitive and matches our [the user’s] needs.

Here are a few highlighted comments for you to consider.

NYT WEEKINREVIEW | January 10, 2010
The Children of Cyberspace: Old Fogies by Their 20s
By Brad Stone, YouTube.

Facebook. The Kindle. Now a tablet. New technology is creating new generation gaps.

Researchers theorize that the ever-accelerating pace of technological change may be minting a series of mini-generation gaps, with each group of children uniquely influenced by the tech tools available in their formative stages of development.

“People two, three or four years apart are having completely different experiences with technology,” said Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project.

These mini-generation gaps are most visible in the communication and entertainment choices made by different age groups. According to a survey last year by Pew, teenagers are more likely to send instant messages than slightly older 20-somethings (68 percent versus 59 percent) and to play online games (78 percent versus 50 percent).

Today, many businesses facing life-or-death challenges from digital technology are described as contemporary buggy whip makers. This short-hand may not be the right simile according to Randall Stross. Nevertheless, what is important, is recognizing change, buggy whip or not, and fully acknowledging that business and brands are a function of a consumer’s need.Therefore, our axiom is: Create a meaningful difference or be ready to only embrace, a better sameness.Here are a few noteworthy extracts from the New York Times article.

NY TIMES January 10, 2010 Digital Domain:  Failing Like a Buggy Whip Maker? Better Check Your SimileBy RANDALL STROSS

Today, any line of business facing the life-or-death challenge of a digital age will be described, sooner or later, as a contemporary buggy whip maker.

The buggy whip analogy is “an obscurity sitting on an anachronism,” said Daniel M. G. Raff, an associate professor of management at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

It’s unlikely that we would even refer metaphorically to buggy whip makers if it weren’t for Theodore Levitt, a Harvard Business School professor. In 1960, he wrote about their plight in a Harvard Business Review article, “Marketing Myopia”; hundreds of thousands of reprints have been sold.

Mr. Levitt said that businesses should concentrate on their customers’ needs, not on specific products. If only the buggy whip makers had thought of themselves as being in the personal transportation business, providing a stimulant or catalyst to an energy source, Mr. Levitt wrote, they might have survived into the automotive era.

Time is relative in the Convergence Continuum.

The following is an example of how we view our world and experience our lives.

World Series Time-Lapse by Robert Caplin from Robert Caplin on Vimeo.