Net Generation

Recently, I was wondering about how things might change as the "net generation" starts to reach the age where they have kids and jobs that impact society. I was thinking that it may become common for parents to check their baby name choices for free usernames on Twitter, YouTube, GMail, blogs, et cetera (Assuming they are still around). We might even start giving them as presents at baby showers, "here's a list of usernames and password for every major social networking site. I didn't know if Jesse was a boy or girl, so I made accounts for both."

It is hard to get usernames even today. So it might be smart to make them ahead of time or use such a unique baby name. Names like John, Matt, or Mohamed just can't cut it anymore. These names make it impossible to get a decent username. Especially for people with common last names like Smith or Patel. I have an even harder time because my initials are MRM. That means if another MRM or MattM doesn't take my name, one of the millions of men with a last name starting with 'M' will already have taken it. If I delay signing up for a new site, even for 30 minutes, all the good name combos for me are gone. It would have been smart to plan ahead (but of course that was never possible when I was born).

You might be saying that the kid might want a fun email or username for awhile. That's all well and good, but you can only use snorlax55555@yahoo.ca for so long. There comes a time when you start applying for jobs and your email address just gets weird. And as more people use the internet, your children may have a limited number of these names available to them. I think the next person I know who has a child, is going to get a list of pre-setup accounts, even just as a joke.

I won't go into the changes as the net generation become high ranking members of the community, because many of these changes have already begun. Online only newspapers, Twitter accounts for politicians, phones connected to the various online sites, and the many other recent changes with technology.

P.S. Now that I think about it, it's more likely that all humans will be assigned a unique number at birth (just like a student ID or social) that is used for all email addresses, social network accounts and various site logins. This would also make it easier to track who was sending spam or viruses, and tell if people really are who they say they are online.