You live in the “digital age.

” You live, work, learn, play, drive, network, eat, and shop in a
digital world. The influence of technology permeates everything you do. The average American
relies daily on more than 250 computers. Every part of your life depends on technology. Your
TV, iPod, DVD player, car, and cell phone are all technology enabled and—more important—
not “able” without technology. Technology is so pervasive in your life it is often considered
“invasive.” Here’s a wild statistic: According to a world-wide survey conducted by Time
magazine in 2005, 14 percent of cell phone users stated they had stopped having sex to take a
phone call. 3 Hmmm . . .Your generation, specifically, the group of people born in the mid-to-
late 1980s and very early 1990s, was born into the digital age, unlike older people. In the early
1990s, few people had yet heard of the Internet, “surfing” was a term identified only as a
water sport, and Microsoft was not the dominant software publisher for word processing,
spreadsheet, presentation, or DBMS applications. Viruses were seen only under a microscope,
worms were used for fishing, and “spam” was just a canned meat. But all this changed in your
first years on earth. As you moved through your early teens, e-commerce exploded and then
quickly imploded, transforming overnight Internet millionaires into overnight Internet paupers.

You are probably more than familiar with unique and interesting IT terms such as pod- casting,
wiki, avatars, emoticons, spoofing, acorns, twittering, sexting, and phishing (now with a
completely different kind of bait). Technology has been so much a part of your life that you
may consider it more of a necessity than a convenience.

Generations of people before you witnessed the evolution and revolution of many other
technologies—automobiles, airplanes, radios, televisions, telephones. Your generation has
been at the center of the digital revolution. Perhaps more than any technology before, digital
technologies such as computers and the Internet have radically transformed the very fabric of
how people live their lives.

Not only that, the pace at which technology is changing (and, thus, changing your life) is far
faster now than for previous technologies and generations of people. Consider these statistics
regarding the years to penetrate a market audience of 50 million people.

• Radio—38 years

• Television—12 years

• Internet—4 years

• iPod—3 years

• Facebook—2 years 4

The reach of all digital technologies is also vast and wide. Technology touches your personal
life every day. Equally so, digital technologies have dramatically altered the competitive
landscape of business. Forty-five of the Fortune top 500 companies in 2008 (that’s almost one
in every 10) were digital technology companies, such as Cisco Systems, Hewlett-Packard, and
Dell. Dell was formed in 1984 (about the time you were born); now it has over 65,000
employees worldwide. Its famous sell-source-ship model of delivering custom personal
computers directly to consumers is the envy of the industry. Amazon.com ranked 171 on the
Fortune list and eBay ranked 326 in 2008—both of these companies have been around for only
about 10 years. As businesses approach the acquisition and use of technology, they do so very
differently from you in your personal life. You find a cool piece of technology and quickly
calculate in your head if you have enough money to purchase it.