This one doesn’t quite fit the category, as it’s social norm and not hard tech, but there’s some reported “new observation about the new generation” that are made over and over.
For example, the Time Magazine has an edition about “the me generation” from 1976, as well as one from 2013.
“Shorter attention span” is also one I see often through history. Although it could really just be a trend where it’s getting shorter and shorter. For example, in 1983, Mike Darwin was complaining that now “all must be compressed to fit in the thirty minute world”, and I was surprised by how long this was for a complaint given how much content of only a couple minutes there is on YouTube now. And with the new “story” format, this could move to seconds.
For more about this general idea, I recommend VSauce’s Juvenoia video.
Also related: “The old ideal of Manhood has grown obsolete, and the new is still invisible to us, and we grope after it in darkness, one clutching this phantom, another that; Werterism, Byronism, even Brummelism, each has its day.” -Thomas Carlyle (Scottish philosopher), in 1831 (h/t Deniz Calisal)
This one doesn’t quite fit the category, as it’s social norm and not hard tech, but there’s some reported “new observation about the new generation” that are made over and over.
For example, the Time Magazine has an edition about “the me generation” from 1976, as well as one from 2013.
“Shorter attention span” is also one I see often through history. Although it could really just be a trend where it’s getting shorter and shorter. For example, in 1983, Mike Darwin was complaining that now “all must be compressed to fit in the thirty minute world”, and I was surprised by how long this was for a complaint given how much content of only a couple minutes there is on YouTube now. And with the new “story” format, this could move to seconds.
For more about this general idea, I recommend VSauce’s Juvenoia video.
Also related: “The old ideal of Manhood has grown obsolete, and the new is still invisible to us, and we grope after it in darkness, one clutching this phantom, another that; Werterism, Byronism, even Brummelism, each has its day.” -Thomas Carlyle (Scottish philosopher), in 1831 (h/t Deniz Calisal)
See also this XKCD about “The Pace of Modern Life”: https://xkcd.com/1227/