I was born in 1980, making me a part of the first ‘computer-native’ generation. I literally cannot remember an existence without computers as a part of daily life. Sure, they were rarer when I was young, especially for those without the access I had, but they were always around. The next generational wave had cell phones, then the Internet, as their touchstone cultural signifiers. Now that I have a daughter, I’ve started thinking about what her defining experience will be, and I’ve come to the conclusion that it is not hardware or a sea-change invention like the Internet, but definitely one just as important: access to a real-time flow of information from around the world. Read the full story at The Next Web.