Next Generation – Old Generation

How may times have we heard it about some amazing new product? “This thingy is the next generation of…”

Too much I think.

The phrase ‘the next generation’ was first coined or popular in the mid to late 80’s with the emergence of Star Trek: The next generation, this was a while ago now. When I say a while, we’re talking about over twenty years. Don’t get me wrong, having worked in technology, I’ve talked to people about the next generation chemical detector that we were developing, or the next generation power controller chip. But even back in 2006 I was thinking “this is a shit description, it’s a new design on a new concept – it’s not really ‘next generation’.

Now we have next generation mattresses which are a bit of fancy foam, or the next generation smartphone where you can plug some stuff in. Listen to me now marketing professionals and advert creators: The next generation is old generation! Find some other way to tell us that something that isn’t new is in fact new(ish). Let’s leave the next generation in the past and bring on something fresh!

Simon 🙂