By Sandra Quinn
Do younger people adapt quicker than their older counterparts to a technology rich workplace? This is an age-old question and it is something which is considered every time a new wave of technology sweeps its way across the sectors and industries.
In years gone by, technology in the everyday workplace was limited to things like a fax machine, a photocopier and an archaic machine for the accounts department.
Nowadays, what we have has gone far beyond that, when you consider that most companies rely daily on emails, software packages, apps, digital security systems, facial and voice recognition software and much more.
The teenagers of today are the ones who are growing up with digital devices as part of their everyday lives – they are the ones toying around with new features on the latest app before you have even realised that there is a new app to explore, they are creating their own signature in the digital world using the various methods available to them and for them, this isn’t work or skill development – it is just life.
In that context, in ten years time, in this ever evolving technology saturated world, are the teenagers of today the effortlessly talented programmers, app developers and software architects of tomorrow?
They grew up with touch screens and swiping on a screen instead of flicking through actual pages, they have thousands of digital photographs, but can probably count the number of physical printed out photos in their own possession on one hand and they would be very confused if you asked them to stand into a box on the street, put a credit card sized card into a slot and make a phone call.
When things like virtual reality and artificial intelligence really come into the fore, we are going to be relying on these tech savvy people to bring us forward.
There is no such thing anymore as not keeping up to date with developments, trends and technology advancements – technology doesn’t wait and if you fail to keep up, it will simply leave you behind.