Ever wonder what it was like 50 years ago? The days when every person you saw wasn’t glued to cell phone? The development of technology over the past years has changed the way people live and how societies work. It has become a powerful force in the development of civilization and system values.
Teenagers are given this incredible technology as a “basic need” at a very young age that it ends up becoming their entire life. Millennials a.k.a generation Y is the first generation to have had access to the Internet during their formative years. The average teenager spends 7.5 hours of his/her day on his or her cell phone, computer, or other electronic device accessing social media.
The teenagers of today have made modern technology a necessity.
As a teen it feels nearly impossible when someone says “don’t touch your cell phone for a day”. Is it really that hard to survive without technology? To find out, I asked Annaya Noorani , a 9th grade student at Craig Kielburger Secondary School in Toronto, Canada, to keep her cell phone in her school locker for the whole day and see if it makes a difference in how her day goes by.
“At break, my friends and I sat down for lunch and after a while; I realized that they were all attached to their phones. Two of them were snap-chatting their food and others were on Instagram or busy texting someone whom was most likely in the same building as them. They were literally documenting their lives on social media. Without my cell phone, I felt excluded from the community. I felt out of place,” said Annaya Noorani .
“All of a sudden, I didn’t know how to socialize with my friends. I realized that we, millennials, have developed very different types of social skills compared to our parents. I got my first computer when I was 8, my first cell phone when I was 11, my first laptop when I was 13. I hear my dad talk about his school life and his stories from when he was young. They are nothing like any story I would be able to tell my children. For our generation, social skills mean being able to have conversations with one another behind a 4.7-inch display screen. ”
These cell phones have become indispensable tools in teen communication patterns. Millennials have everything at their fingertips ranging from friends, family, games, shopping, work and others. Social media was pushed upon them at a very young age. It was cool and easy; making it the default way of connecting to the world.
“Staying away from my cell phone for the whole day made me realize that if we were to go back in time and live without cell phones, we would not be able to survive. Going back in technology is taking away the biggest factor we are dependent on. Millennials grew up surrounded by cell phones. Without it, our own lives would become hard for us. We will grow up to be so dependent on cell phones that when we step into the workforce we will not be able to interact with our colleagues, customers and partners efficiently without it. We will need technology that supports our interconnected lifestyle,” said Annaya Noorani.
To prepare for the workforce of future, companies need to keep themselves updated on the latest trends and products with simple & easy apps that match the mindset of millennials.
Traditional business applications and business processes are not built to the standard that of modern day workforce. Seeing as millennials are the generation that will be in the future workforce , the future customers , investors and vendors, it is essential for corporations to make their business processes, products and services simple and easy.
Design thinking helps corporations to think in new ways about their services, products and processes. Design Thinking enables us to create simple apps for difficult situations by focusing on exactly what users need.
To learn how you can prepare your products and services for your future workforce, schedule a complimentary envision workshop on design thinking framework with Sodales Solutions.
