07 July, 2010

Generation Alpha

I've discovered that I can (successfully) disassemble a laptop, remove and clean the fan, and reassemble it. It turns out that if you remove a solid chunk of built-up animal hair, the running temperature reduces from near-silicone-overheat-forced-power-off-point down to a much more pleasant 40.

I now have a whole new admiration for laptop computer engineers. There's not a square millimetre of wasted space in those things. I kept identifying parts and thinking, whoa, that's tiny! The components are all like... techonogical and stuff.*

I've also learned today that: not only are Baby Boomers greedy, and Generation X whiny, broke, perpetual uni students, and Gen Y selfish tech-savvy brats who never move out of home, but... some of the Generation Z are now already into their teens. And it gets worse. The first of the next generation are being born and they don't really have a name for them. ("Kids Born After 2009" just doesn't have much of a ring to it.) Some people are calling them Generation Alpha, but it's slow to catch on. Probably because everyone, like me, is still learning that Gen Z even exists, let alone that they're being superceded. I suppose most sociologists (being Gen X'ers) are either busy with their Gen Y teenagers or potty training their Gen Zs.

I've decided to do my bit for sociology and help promote the name.

Congratulations to my school classmate Kerry, who this week welcomed her first grandchild to the world. It's probably also the first grandchild from our year, too. Bring on the rest of Generation Alpha!

(Note: My children have already been STRONGLY warned not to bring any Gen Alpha into the world on my watch. I'm terrified enough of grey hair caused by my own children!)

* "techonogical" is not a typeoh.