Generationing

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I was rushing to an appointment in Central London and had a jolt of worry on the Tube, as my phone’s battery had died so I wouldn’t be able to keep track of the time. Exiting the tube, I couldn’t remember the exact location of my appointment; I’d looked it up with my Google Maps app, but of course my phone was dead, so I couldn’t retrieve my previous search. I had neither written down the address nor brought with me my once-trusty London A-Z. And no battery meant I couldn’t even call Directory Enquiries to get the number for the venue.

While these were tiny, not-really-incidents, what they told me was to what extent Generation Y is at the forefront in its reliance on a single multi-function device – the mobile phone – to carry out everyday activities. Battery dead, I felt completely disconnected from the world: I couldn’t tell the time, wake up for work, or access my calendar, let alone contact anyone or search the net.

While a universal device is extremely convenient, it is also teaching us to be helpless (and perhaps a bit lazy) without it. It is giving us poor memories, as we no longer need to keep information in our heads (I’ve been known to use my phone in the cinema to IMDB an actor I recognised, but couldn’t for the life of me remember who he was), but more importantly, it’s making us terrible contingency planners. A mobile device’s immediate access to all required information is encouraging us to just figure out what we need to do as we go along, rather than making us plan ahead in case something goes awry.

The Generation Y assumption that technology – and so the world – is perfect, can have consequences for business, as it means we just don’t think anything will go wrong. At work, this may result in forgotten meetings, missed deadlines, and a general reduction in work quality. If a project goes wrong, the client relationship may deteriorate, as a result of us not having put in place preventative measures or a contingency plan.

Generation Ys are actually great workers who can add a lot of value to business, as the phone has taught us to be very flexible and creative, but we may need to be taught what other generations take for granted: You always need a Plan B.