RE: [External] : Re: Gitlab Migration

[Drew Adams]

> >> For younger people, I suspect part of it is just a perception of email
> >> as being old and outdated and not fitting as well with their 'style' of
> >> communication, which tends to be about short messages and group chat in
> >> near 'real time'.
> >
> > Shiny New Toy syndrome, aka Flavor Of The Month.
> > (Not at all limited to youth, of course.)
    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

> Sadly, I think comments like this are all too
> frequent from us oldies.

"Comments like these" is facile dismissal.

> They feel simplistic, overly dismissive and
> somewhat arrogant. 

That's exactly what that comment you just made
feels like.  Your complaint does what it
complains about.

> For youth, nearly everything is shiny and new
> - we forget that for us, email was shiny and
> new once upon a time.

I don't forget it.  It's you who laid this on
"younger people", not I.  Your description.

> The difference could just as easily be due
> to us 'old dogs' failing to learn new tricks
> and failing to recognise the evolution in social
> interaction brought about by new technologies.

I don't see it as old vs new dogs.  There are
plenty of old dogs who new-trick all the time.

Shiny New Toy syndrome doesn't respect age.
The toys might differ on average for different
age groups, but that's about all.

> If it is just the flavour of the month, it is
> a very long month and I see little evidence of
> that flavour becoming stale. I'm sure it will
> continue to evolve, but feel it is very unlikely
> to go back the other way.

Define "back the other way".  What dichotomy
are you hinting at: email versus ____?

What's the flavor you're talking about?
Everything other than email?  Or a particular
thing, such as Slack?  Wait and see how long
any particular remains in the Top 10.

There's not really anything new about "short
messages and group chat" versus long messages
and one-on-one.  What's new (and ever-changing)
are the possible forms.

Or if you mean social media powerhouses such
as Facebook then sure, there's no Facebook of
the month.  Yesterday's shiny new Instagram is
just Facebook.  It'll likely be a while before
Facebook and Google go the way of old IBM.
___

There's a difference between (1) being attracted
to something new and (2) being distracted toward
whatever pops into the field of view and away
from what was noticed a millisecond ago.  #2 is
what Shiny New Toy Syndrome is about.

And no, as I said, the malady is _not at all_
limited to youth.  Its underlying, unseen
foundation is _commercial_.  We (of all ages)
succumb to it in part because what appears on
the shelves changes.
___

Anyway, this is fairly off-topic now.

Your point was about youth's perception of email
as "old".  My point was that a view of things as
"old" can be a sign of Shiny New Toy syndrome -
a relentless, overwhelming appetite for "new".

That's not youth; it's market society.

(And no, not everyone is infected to the same
degree.)