GECD 650

Dr. Blank

Gadgets

            Kathryn Zickuhr's "Generations and their Gadgets" has a lot of facts and statistics; what caught my attention was some of the statistics such as what gadgets are owned by age groups. The paper listed several gadgets from cell phones to tablet computers; this paper also explained the age groups with a chart while claiming that the Millennial generation was the least likely group to not own any of the gadgets. The Millennial group was the youngest group listed in the paper and was defined as the ages of 18-34. The paper claimed that 95% of the Millennial generation owned some kind of cell phone, 57% own a desktop, 70% own a laptop, 74% own an iPod or mp3 player of some kind, 63% own a game console of some kind, 5% own an electronic book device, and 5% own a tablet  computer. I do fall into the Millennial age group but I do not have many of these devices: the only electronic devices that I own are my laptop and my cell phone. However, my father is from the Older Boomers age, those born from 1946-1954, where the statistics show that: 84% own a cell phone, 64% own a desktop, 43% own a laptop, 26% own an iPod or mp3 player of some kind, 19% own a game console, 3% own an electronic book device, and 3% own a tablet computer. My father actually owns a cell phone, a desktop and a laptop, a electronic book device in the form of a Kindle, and a tablet computer in the form of a Kindle Fire. So while Zickuhr's papers show some interesting statistics, there are still some variables and some people that do not match the statistics. The paper also reveals that many people do own a lot of electronic devices, perhaps too many, and that certain devices are more popular with certain age groups then others. Cell phones, laptops, mp3 devices, and game consoles are more popular with the Millennial generation then most of the other generations. Zickuhr's paper does remind me about how much electronic devices have changed how people connect and keep in contact with others: cell phones and mass media websites like Facebook are two examples of how people can connect. There have been a lot of advances in technology in the last 20-30 years and the Zickuhr paper shows how one generation differs from the previous generations and the future generations.