In Jeff Wayne's musical opus, "The War of the Worlds", narrator Richard Burton begins the story of society's annihilation by an alien force with the timeless words: "No one would have believed that in the last years of the 19th century..."
While today's society can't be said to face the same sort of otherworldly threat as the citizens of Old England in HG Wells' classic tale, the cautionary messages the story seeks to tell are manifesting themselves in far less obvious - and possibly more camouflaged - ways.
After all, no one would have believed that in the last years of the 20th century, technology would have advanced at such a pace as to challenge the very norms society has been built on.
In her investigative article in the Harvard Business Review: "How mobile technologies are shaping a new generation", author Tammy Erickson identifies the so-called 'mobile re-generation' - those born after 2008 - as "the first unconscious participants in an era when everyone has access to everything, everywhere, at every time".
Connected kids
Today's children are the first generation exposed in their formative years to technology that's literally changing the way they perceive their world, learn from it, and react to it. Considering these children are tomorrow's consumers, politicians and business leaders, it's a trend that demands urgent attention.
With their intuitive touch screens and colourful applications, smartphones and tablets have become today's children's favourite playthings. And with a global market in the millions - if not billions - most people are passing their devices on to their children to both educate (positive) and pacify (negative) them.
But such is the 'newness' of the technology that users don't yet have any idea of the longer-term effects. There are only statistics to go by, and the statistics paint a startling picture.
For example, 6% of two- to five-year-olds have their own smartphones! And two-thirds of four- to seven-year-olds have used an iPhone or iPod, and half of 11-year-olds have their own cellphones.
OMG
Connected to the Internet, these devices are fast becoming the children's primary means of communicating with each other. It may seem implausible, but kids aged 11 to 14 spend, on average, 73 minutes a day texting, and the average teen sends more than 50 texts a day.
Add to the mix a slew of social media apps - from Facebook to Instagram and SnapChat - and it's easy to see how children's 'digital personas' are fast becoming indistinguishable from who they are - how they think, talk and act in the 'real' world.
Smartphones and tablets have become today's children's favourite playthings.
From a business perspective, none of this should come as a surprise. A high percentage of mobile applications, the fuel that's 'driving' this mobile revolution, are designed for children (and that's before considering the largest of all app segments, entertainment and games). After all, up to 72% of the 100 top-selling education apps are aimed at preschoolers and elementary schools.
Again, from a business perspective this makes sense. Mobile device manufacturers and app vendors have tapped into a market that will sustain their products for decades to come. By appealing to the young, mobile technology vendors are seeding a new generation of buyer that will continually update and upgrade purchases over time.
As a technologist and mobile evangelist, I see more merits than negatives. A generation of digital 'natives' are being raised who are comfortable and confident in their use of technology; who know how to use it and gain competitive advantage from doing so. Social media is creating networks of connected individuals who are learning from each other, and benefiting the collective as a result.
But as an educator and business owner, I can see the warning signs just as clearly.
I believe we're witnessing, for the first time in human social history, a technological advance that has the potential to both positively shape and negatively cripple the fabric of society. If this is not controlled, the implications of what has been created could ultimately spiral out of control.
Where to from here depends on outlook, social circumstances, and even knowledge (or lack thereof) of the technologies in question. In the next Industry Insight, I will take a closer look at the effects of mobile technology on today's children, and suggest ways in which to better channel the use of mobile and social technology at home.
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