Generation of Technology
They say that millennials and generations younger seem to understand technology on an innate level. Whilst I’m unsure whether this is true for myself, there’s something spooky about the way my nephew, at six, was able to navigate my mobile phone as well as I could. Sebastian, the Director’s step-son, has been testing Dynamics since he was six! At the age of nine, he was building Views and Charts for our company’s Dynamics environments.
It’s possible that children’s understanding is based more on luck than knowledge, however. Mobile interfaces are filled with visuals that aid usage and offer benchmarks to navigate the process. It’s because of this that I suppose children understand their screens so well, with less distracting words on show.
For whatever reason, the way children interact with tech suggests a surface knowledge of how things work without any prior teaching. They never had to listen to the modem connecting via the telephone line to the internet in their grandmother’s house, after all.
The Digital Divide
Whilst I can’t say I’m sold on the theory that technological understanding is becoming innate, it’s clear that there’s a digital divide between the generations. An estimated 95% of UK households owned at least one mobile phone in 2018. A total of 98% of 16-24 year olds own at least a handset each. Nearly everyone in the country is at the other end of a call wherever they go.
When faced with dilemmas, hard questions and general wonderings of ‘what time does that shop open again?’, many of us will now take to our phones. However, there are still many who do not.
This is where a clear divide occurs, which many will argue is generational. Millennials, or, Generation Y, (born 1981-1996), Gen Z (born 1997 and after), and all those born in between tend to rely on technology. And, whilst many from the generations before them do as well, there is noticeable difference in numbers.
It’s true that we’re navigating a world full of misinformation, conspiracy theories and too much choice. These factors then make it difficult to know who to trust in the world of technology. I still prefer the simplicity of a physical book to my kindle. Some people still want to hold fast to their notepads and spreadsheets. People are creatures of habit, adverse to change and comfortable with the known. However, even I can’t deny the cheaper cost of online books and the ability to instantly download the next book in a series that comes with my e-reader.
Making Technology Accessible
Technology is about convenience, saving time and effort where we can, to offer us ease of use. Every time technology adapts and evolves, we expect the next step of improvement before it’s even created. This has led to a change in the way workforces are doing things. Now, technology is becoming unavoidable. For some, these changes are welcome and praised. For others, implemented technological changes are met with hesitancy.
Therefore, it’s in a company’s best interest to offer their workers time to adapt to new systems, and one of the best ways to do this is via hands on training. Understanding that everyone responds differently to situations, regardless of generation, is just a step in doing so.
This is why D365 Life Without Code offers users multiple training courses to all its users to ensure that everyone is comfortable with their software. As an organisation, we do not offer ‘click-button’ training. We feel that there is more to an application than clicking a button. It’s more than just clicking a button, it’s how the button works in relation to your company’s processes. We believe technology is there to support an organisation, not to dictate an organisation. We find that we where an organisation has a lower adoption of usage often the users are seeing a computer system as data-entry, whereas to us, the data extraction is where technology becomes very exciting.
Technology and Business
It is almost expected that offices with multiple employees use technology to run their companies. It is as expected to get a computer when you join as it is a chair and desk – these are the tools of the job. Look out for our series of blogs about technology in businesses in which you wouldn’t expect the technology to be there.
Check out the other blogs in this series
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