Beloit College just came out with its 2016 Mindset List — a cultural profile of incoming freshman and the things that have influenced their lives. It’s a time to reflect on perspectives shaped by the generation we grew up in. Not to be outdone, we have our own set of “touchstones” for the newest generation of IT workers. Believe it or not, Spam is a food and you can wash it down with java.
Have you seen the 2016 Mindset List from Beloit College? Every year this school puts together a sort of profile to help its professors appreciate the mindset of the incoming freshman class. The idea is that instructors need to understand the cultural touchstones that helped to shape the perspectives of the Class of 2016. Here are just a few points on this year’s list:
• Having grown up with MP3s and iPods, they never listen to music on the car radio and really have no use for radio at all.
• “Star Wars” has always been just a film, not a defense strategy.
• Genomes of living things have always been sequenced.
CLASS OF 2016: Born of cyberspace; no need for TV, CDs or airline tickets but cannot miss ‘The Daily Show’
Just reading the list of 75 touchstones makes me feel old! Of course, having two children of my own — ages 17 and 19 — I am constantly reminded that what influenced my life is vastly different from what has influenced theirs.
With this in mind, I put together my own list geared toward seasoned IT veterans who find themselves working side by side with 20-something workers. Sometimes we old folks need a not-so-subtle reminder of how wide the technology generation gap can be. So consider this: Here are some cultural touchstones that have shaped the perspective of that 22-year-old kid sitting in the next cubicle. For him or her …
• Computers have always had graphical user interfaces. This kid wouldn’t know a command prompt if it bit her in the butt.
• Removable storage comes in a little stick the size and general shape of a thumb or as a postage-sized micro disk. For him, the term “floppy drive” conjures up the notion of a body part that doesn’t function at the most critical moment. And whether you are talking about an 8-inch, 5 ¼-inch or 3 ½-inch disk, size just doesn’t matter.
• The smart device in the palm of her hand has completely usurped the need to wear a watch, carry a leather wallet, buy a camera, hang a calendar, use an alarm clock, turn on a radio, buy a game console, turn on a television, use paper and pencil to take notes, and so much more. Also, this device is more powerful than the computers used to land men on the moon.
• The initials “IBM” mean nothing but “IPO” means everything.
• Great companies like Digital (DEC), SPSS, Compaq, MCI Worldcom, Univac, Tandem, 3Com, Platinum Technology, Informix, Sterling Software and hundreds of others that built the computing industry are nothing but footnotes in history.
• Computer monitors have always been sleek, light panels and not big heavy boxes the size of a dorm refrigerator.
• A face-to-face meeting means using Skype to talk to someone across the country.
• Spam, Java, Jelly Bean and Ice Cream Sandwich have nothing to do with food or drink.
• A green screen is what videographers use to put special effects into their movies; it has nothing to do with a mainframe. (Wait, what’s a mainframe?)
As if I needed a reminder of my advancing age, a few weeks ago I toured my college campus with my kids in tow. I pointed out the old computer science building where I spent too many hours in front of a keypunch machine, churning out cards for my FORTRAN programs. They both gave me a quizzical look and asked what a keypunch machine is. (I’m sure I lost them at FORTRAN, too.) Then I realized that old computing terms must confuse today’s youngest generation of IT workers:
• A “keypunch machine” must be one of those dye presses you see at hardware stores for making copies of your house key.
• A “batch job” must refer to the process of making a bunch of cookies — the kind you eat, not the kind that websites drop on your computer.
• “Sneakernet”? Isn’t that the website where you can buy the latest and greatest athletic shoes?
• “Green bar” must refer to that café that serves organic salads.
I could go on and on, but it only makes me feel old. How about you?
Linda Musthaler is a principal analyst with Essential Solutions Corporation. You can write to her at LMusthaler@essential-iws.com.
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About Essential Solutions Corp:
Essential Solutions researches the practical value of information technology, and how it can make individual workers and entire organizations more productive. Essential Solutions offers consulting services to computer industry and corporate clients to help define and fulfill the potential of IT.
