Children are our Present
http://www.fastcodesign.com/1671239/how-kids-are-remaking-our-consumer-behavior
Traditionally, we imagine the adults of society leading the young, blazing the trail towards the future that children will follow behind. However, as the article points out, there are a number of ways in which this view is inaccurate and may even be reversing. First of all, adult behavior is (perhaps increasingly) influenced by small things their kids are learning outside their home. For example, kids are learning small behaviors–like coughing into your elbow, recycling, or using energy-efficient light bulbs–at school and then convincing their parents that they need to do the same thing. Additionally, younger generations have grown up in a new culture in which rapid technological advancement is occurring, requiring constant adaptation to the newest and best products. Many older individuals are then introduced by their younger family members to the new tech, or adopt new things such as social media in order to connect with their relatives. As technology continues to accelerate past the levels that older generations are familiar with, many older people are seeking assistance from younger generations at an increasing rate. These trends are causing children–not adults–to shape the world we live in.
A network graph can help increase our understanding of these trends. For the first situation, we can imagine that adults have limited connectiosn to the world–most of their connections are to other people of the same age, and close connections may be constrained to groups such as their workplace or any organizations they are a part of, such as a religious group. They presumably have a particularly strong connection with their family. Their children at school, on the other hand, have connections with a large number of other children, who carry the ideas of their parents, as well as teachers, who have a strong influence over the children. When the children return home, their ideas have been affected by their time at school, where an adult who has access to the collected expressions of all their students has taught them new knowledge. They then introduce their parents to these ideas, who may agree with the new information or be worn down by repeated nagging from their children.
The second effect might be observed from the fact that younger generations have a great interest in and wide exposure to a lot of new technology. They have more free time than adults to explore and tinker with new tech, as well as the advantage of being connected to a large number of other kids who have similar interests. Adults know that their kids are in a position of power in the network (they have more connections to useful sources of technological information), so they utilize their kids’ knowledge to speed their own adaptation to emerging technology.
As we continue to advance, we may see power continuing to shift towards the younger generations. Older generations will have to gain the ability to adapt rapidly to a world that is changing faster than ever, or risk being displaced by younger generations who can learn faster.
-Tuzongyu