When the kids of my generation were growing up, we all wanted to become someone like Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin or Jimi Hendrix (or any other rocker whose name began with a 'J`).
Heck, everyone I knew wanted to be a rock star, musician or singer, whether you were into metal, punk, rock or new romanticism, it was the goal everybody strove for - although I have a strong feeling this was purely to bug our parents.
Because, of course, our parents thought all rockers were drug-taking, hedonistic, amoral creatures, with no talent to speak of (much of which was true, but that is another story entirely) and so we wanted to emulate them because it irritated our parents.
How things have changed in the intervening years.
New research done in the UK has revealed that more youngsters dream of a career in IT than want to become the next John Lennon or Janet Jackson (there we go again with those "J`s").
Incredible as it may seem, over one-fifth of the 12- to 15-year-olds surveyed stated they would prefer to work in IT rather than launch a pop career, or become a doctor, prime minister, bank manager, soldier or teacher.
New research done in the UK has revealed that more youngsters dream of a career in IT than want to become the next John Lennon or Janet Jackson.
Rodney Weidemann, Journalist, ITWeb
This could mean simply that our children are learning about the real world far quicker, since the main reason for choosing an IT job was the money involved (they obviously don`t plan on being IT journalists), followed by the exciting technologies they would work with.
One problem raised by the survey was that only one in five felt that a career in IT would be particularly fun.
Now we all know what happens when people fail to find their job fun - they doodle. And when their job involves working in cyberspace, what better way to doodle than to see if you can create the latest and greatest virus?
Considering that an Internet security firm recently announced that it thought the creators of the Bagle and Netsky viruses, which affected the world so badly recently, were involved in an online gang 'turf war`, the problem gets larger.
Now, instead of hundreds of eager kids, happily wanting to get ahead in life and plan a successful career, we face the threat of potential cyber-gangs, using new and ever more deadly viruses as their weapons and cyberspace as the turf to be fought over.
I can picture it already: gangs like the 'Virtual Skulls` taking on the 'Blue Screens of Death` in a digital turf war that wreaks havoc across the playing fields of the Internet, crashes mighty corporate systems and makes life intolerable for the common man.
As wave upon wave of denial of service attacks clogs e-mail boxes around the world and worm after upgraded worm is released by these vicious cyber-gangs, the very fabric of the digital society could be rent asunder.
And to think that all our parents had to worry about was sex, drugs and rock 'n roll.
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