Being a 20-year-old in the year 2012 is an interesting experience. When my mom asks me for the 15th time how to make a smiley face in a text message, I cringe. Somehow I’ve become her go-to person for all things technology. While that can be slightly annoying, on the opposite spectrum, I find it astonishing that my 4-year-old nephew can figure out how to work an iPad in just minutes. He will never know a world without such an invasive Internet presence. I, however, am a part of the generation that has grown with Re-Imagination.
The way we live, work, and play has become progressively more Internet and technology based throughout my lifetime. I have matured along with my social networking sites, graduating from MySpace to Facebook as I entered high school. In the early 90’s Internet advertising was unheard of, instead companies focused on print and newspaper advertising. Now, newspapers are well on their way to becoming obsolete along with their close relatives, books. The percentage of adults owning a tablet or eReader has gone from 2% to 29% in less than 3 years (Pew Research Center). KPCB outlines quite a few “Then and Now” examples of Re-Imagination that my generation and generations before have had the pleasure of experiencing in recent years.
Looking back, they seem to have taken place subtly. When did I stop looking up phone numbers in the phone book? When did I start using virtual sticky notes instead of actual sticky notes? When did people go from disposable cameras to digital cameras to just using their iPhones? Should I even bring my digital camera out tonight, or is that just prehistoric? Keeping up with the changes can be tiring and according to KPCB we are still in the growth phase.
Plenty of consumer Internet “White Space” is still open for improvement. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Americans spend about 52 minutes on average in the car daily, but this time has yet to be utilized. So what’s next? Car windshields or windows with Google Glass technology? Will that be my nephew’s “Then and Now” in 15 years? Uh oh, maybe I will be his crazy Aunt Maryanne that can’t figure out how to program the temperature on her car’s windshield. We all know the Internet has come a long way, but the changes show no signs of slowing down. Check out the rest of KPCB’s “Then and Now” slides (starting at slide 33) and make your own predictions about what else will be Re-Imagined in the future.
KPCB Internet Trends 2012
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