The MP3 Generation a.k.a. Einstein Generation

I would not dream of that, where the traces of Second Life can appear in Real Life. Nobody is surprised that SL is discussed in all possible information medias like TV, newspapers or the Internet. However, I have never dreamed that the SL traces reached 10 000 meters above the Earth’s surface. When I was on a board plane from Vienna to Madrid, I have red and paged some magazine, which have been to disposal for the traveling. And what I found? Nice interesting article, which is little bit longer, but yet still interesting.

DVDs took over from video-tapes, CDs from vinyl records, MP3s from hi-fi systems, iPods from the old stereo in the living room, Play Stations from videogames, and the iPhone took over form almost all of them. Music, photos, videos and the Internet. The wireless online revolution has arrived at our homes, transforming our lives. If you’re not at the forefront of technology, it’s game over.

If you’re not chatting over Microsoft Messenger, sending texts messages and connecting to the internet with your mobile phone, listening to music on your MP3 and uploading videos to YouTube, making millions friends on sites such as MySpace and Tuenti, using GPS devices to find your way around and publishing wiki blogs, you are not making use Bluetooth, umt, edge and wi-fi technology. These gadgets, all of which include integrated or online applications, have turned our lives into a fascinating multimedia spectacle.
Technological fusion is already transforming Internet services and the way we use digital devices. We live in a wireless world, which lends us freedom and portability. And the devices we use are all in one: with a single click we can listen to Madonna’s latest song in MP3 format, look online photographs of a friend’s holidays on the other side of the world, listen to our favorite radio station and play real-time Age of Mythology with cousin living in London.
The fact is that, years after the heyday of Generation X, whose members discovered the Internet as adults, and used it mainly as a source of information, a new generation has invaded the public scene. This is not just another bunch of kids, but what has come to be known as the “Einstein Generation”, many of whose members are already in their 20s.
Computer are not longer glorified typewriters, and have become a social tool: chats, instant messaging, blogs, virtual communities, etc. Never before has the Internet fulfilled, to this extent, one of its self-confessed aims: to bring together similar people who live in distant places, or those who simply share a hobby.
This digital “stargate” take us to that imaginary, yet still very real, space in which exist social networks, such as Facebook, YouTube, MySpace or Bebo, places where we can advertise our services, find partners, attract customer and exchange information. I four or five years, 50 million people will be living in a second, and virtual, life. Here, politicians will conduct their campaigns (some already do), countries will open their embassies, work opportunities will be available, and there will be sex, money and gambling. It might be on Second Life or in other virtual universes, which are yet to emerge. It is already to buy land and erect buildings to set up business or open a bar, to flirt, to play and to dance. A no-man’s land, in which younger generations are the lords and masters.
The digital abyss between new and “old” generations is expanding at a worrying pace. The biggest paradox is that, despite the increasing of amount of money and resources being invested, technological segregation continues to grow. Members of the lowest social-economic tier are at risk of being left out of a revolution, which is re-defining future welfare. But even in the higher echelons of society, whose members have greater access to education, there exists a very vulnerable sub-group: elderly people. We are living in a dangerous world, and face an uncertain future.
By the, airplanes will be too scared to crash, yoghurts will say good morning to us before we eat them, and human consciousness will be stored on supercomputers, guaranteeing immortality for all.

(Source: IBERIA RONDA magazine, October 2008)