Technology

Are you ready for Library 2.0? Hoopla is an app service that works with Android and iOS to deliver digital library material. The app connects with public libraries across the country via library pin numbers. Users can download content that ranges from ebooks, audiobooks, music, movies and TV-shows. They even provide educational material. And of course it's free. Hoopla is particularly excited about the potential for younger users.

ID-100169890Most personal insolvencies these days are caused by expenses related to the two service industries we depend on the most in our modern society – healthcare and education. And not surprisingly some of the most disruptive technological and social innovations are happening in these two areas as well. Much of the skyrocketing healthcare costs in the United States have been attributed to lack of preventative care. Obesity rates have climbed in response to insufficient physical exercise and nutritional ignorance or at least by our slant toward self-deluding eating habits. Health monitoring and simple checkups add to the costs and time spent in doctor’s offices.

In my post Online privacy and the cyberbaby-generation I addressed what I think is a distorted narrative when online sharing habits and privacy concerns are discussed. Despite the fastest adoption of social media happening among the older cohorts, a slew of studies and articles seem to limit their focus to young people's internet habits. When grown ups distribute content, often intimate details of (unconsenting?) minors over a vast social media landscape, they are affecting another person's online reputation. Even if most parents share less incriminating content about their kids than kids share about themselves, there is something profoundly different about falling victim to other people's stupidity than to your own when regretful content is made public. If we overlook the "oversharenting" trend among our own parenting generation, we don't only fail to notice the asymmetry between the generations (children don't share content about parents as much as vice-versa, often because they are too young to join in the game), but we implicitly assume young people are less adept at protecting their online reputation.

“We may never have our flying cars, but the future is here.” No we don't have flying cars, but perhaps Volkswagon have engaged enough interest to literally get something off the ground in a not so distant future? Anyway, let’s have a look at the 27 other breakthroughs Buzzfeed mentions. Are these inventions scientific one hit wonders receiving accolades only in the nerdiest of the techie circles, or do they actually have the potential to change the lives of Generation Z’ers and beyond in ways we never dreamed could happen?

Do As I Say, Not As I Do? Pew Research is one of my main, probably the main go-to source for generational statistics. But for once I am a little disappointed. The culprit is their recent study "Parents Concerned About Teens' Online Activities and Privacy." The title captures it all. By focusing only on young people's own activities they get only a partial picture of all that threaten the privacy of minors today, which in turn distorts the narrative of the online privacy debate.

READ ANNE BOYSEN'S CHAPTER

Gen Z In The Workplace In The Future of Bussiness