Aitizaz Hassan

ISLAMABAD, Nov 02 (INP-WealthPK): The young generation should take charge of Pakistan’s campaign to align itself with the emerging technologies to effect rapid economic growth.

Talking to WealthPK, Hamza Saeed, director of strategic planning and client services, Special Technology Zone Authority (STZA), said the country would have to exploit the youth bulge if it wants to become a technologically-advanced country.

He stressed that young fresh graduates, who are more compatible with existing and emerging technologies, must be encouraged to work in information technology companies.

He said that young minds are best suited to this age, which is the era of fungible tokens – representation of an asset on a blockchain that is interchangeable – and metaverse, whose significance is being denied even by some scientists. He said that this new technology is fast becoming a reality and would best be adopted by the younger generation.

“The technological innovations have changed the consumption patterns, widening the generational gaps, with conventional topics being fast overtaken by tech-specific subjects,” Hamza Saeed underscored.

The STZA director said that the stakeholders should understand this generational gap in a positive way. He said in line with the policy measures to fast-track modern technology adaptation, 80% of the STZA staff is under 30 years of age, and the average age of a STZA director is 32 to 33 years.

He said that STZA is criticised for hiring the young staff, but the authority’s chairman firmly believes in the fact that the digital Pakistan vision could be achieved only through exploiting the potential of young brains having knowledge of modern know-how. “An IT revolution and innovation cannot be brought about with elderly people at the helms,” he underscored.

Hamza Saeed said that the efforts are afoot to digitise the land records and make full use of artificial intelligence.

According to US think tank Pew Research, 92% of millennials (people born from 1981 to 1996) own smartphones compared with 85% of Gen Xers (those born from 1965-1980) and 67% of Baby Boomers (born from 1946-1964).

The older generations tend to use their phones mostly for making calls, whereas for younger generations, a phone is their digital window to the world. Phones are increasingly used for social media, going online, texting, emailing, playing games, listening to music, and recording and watching videos.

According to Pew Research, the ecosystem that we build should be very conversable. This wave started with the aging of the millennial generation, making smartphones and tablets easy and an everyday thing to them.

By contrast, older generations lack in both ability and general interest in this technological wave.

The daily media consumption of different generations also vastly differs. Gen Xers and millennials favour streaming and online services, with 46% of teens (ages 12 to 16) saying they use Netflix compared to 31% of those aged over 16.

Furthermore, 16-24s spend 30% of their downtime watching TV or video, compared to 40% of time spent on these activities by an average UK adult. Boomers spend a whopping 344 minutes a day watching regular TV, significantly more than any other age group.

Credit : Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk