Flying monkeys from firstSTREETonline.com
It's getting down to the wire for holiday gift-giving. I am afraid I missed the boat for making recommendations in time for Hanukkah, and I am just starting on my Christmas list. With online shopping, I go right down to the deadline that regular shipping service can handle.
I've been looking for some cool gift ideas for the grandparents in our lives. The seniors I know are fairly tech-savvy in at least one area of their lives, if not totally enamored with gadgets. My Mom still doesn't like her cell phone but she is an eBay maven, for example.
So it's been fun thinking about what kinds of gadgets they might enjoy, and I have found a great source for gift-giving. The firstSTREET catalog specializes in gadgets aimed "at Boomers and Beyond." Interestingly, the business started out as more of a general gadget catalog, but as its buyers began to skew older, firstSTREET evolved its offerings to appeal to this emerging market. After all, catering to Baby Boomers is following the money.
Bestsellers include gadgets to improve sound quality on TV speakers and phones, and there are also plenty of gift ideas for family members of all ages. I might just have to see just how much fun a Flying Screaming Monkey toy can be.
New York Times workplace trendspotter Lisa Belkin writes today about the culture clashes arising now that four generations are in the workplace at one time. The World War II generation, Baby Boomers, Gen X and Gen Y have very different values and expectations that are not always compatible co-existing in the workplace. Think belly rings clashing with Brooks Brothers, or flex-time worship versus yuppie ladder climbing.
Belkin writes about programs designed to translate workplace standards and communication styles across these boundaries: "Summer is the season of culture shock in the working world, when the old guard comes face to face with a next wave of newcomers, and the result is something like lost tribes encountering explorers for the first time."
This trend story feels a little pat and overgeneralized, but Belkin's article made me smile because I had just been thinking about what it means to have four generations online. In this case, the tables are turned with the younger generations as the experts who have grown up with online technology as their native culture, and senior family members more or less along for the ride. In our family, the grandparents are online, which is a good thing, but I have run into my own case of culture shock when my father reads my blogs.
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Intergenerational tech musings today: The New York Times has an interesting report about new advances in hearing aid technology. Companies are motivated to meet the needs of aging baby boomers facing progressive hearing loss.
But how to overcome the stigma of hearing aid use for this potential market of 78 million people? Recent innovation has led to new devices that look more like Bluetooth headsets or iPod headphones than older models that resembled "a chewed Circus Peanut."
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