When I was 13, the height of technology was gathering in the living room with my friends, mashing buttons on the Nintendo, and playing Tecmo Bowl (R.I.P. Bo Jackson’s dominance). When we weren’t glued to the TV, we’d take our pixelated playbooks outside and toss the football around until touch football turned into Brian Bosworth-like hitting. Simpler times, right?
Fast forward to my son’s 13th birthday, and now I’m watching him and his friends strap on VR headsets at SandboxVR and dive into virtual worlds that look more realistic than the actual backyard. Instead of arguing over who plays quarterback, they're comparing "kill streaks" and digital loot. The only constant... teamwork!
Times have certainly changed! My biggest tech struggle was blowing into a cartridge to get the game working. Now, I’m troubleshooting lag and bandwidth issues before cake.
Kids have entire universes at their fingertips, while I had a power cord that barely reached the couch. I envy them being at the cutting edge of advancements. What is in front of them is amazing and changing by the minute. As executives this is exciting as we are getting talent coming into the marketplace that is more agile, interested in pushing boundaries, and embracing every new technology that comes their way.
While they won't likely know the fun of the 49ers unstoppable crossing route in Tecmo Bowl, they will know how to lean into technology more than any generation in history. What an exciting time!