Dispatches From the Next Generation: America, Land of Ignorant Early Adopters?

One of our DFNG correspondents, Kelly Sutton, has spent the past month seeing himself -- and his country -- through a different lens. This is his take on differing attitudes about consumer technology.

From Kelly:

Since the middle of May, I have been studying in Bonn, Germany. While in the city where Beethoven wrote his symphonies and elsewhere in Germany, I noticed one thing that American technology hasn't shown for sometime: pragmatism. On the subways and in the streets, the ubiquitous iPod is nowhere to be found. Why would anyone want anything except the over-engineered Apple music-playing machine? For a month now I've tried to sleuth my way to the solution of this mystery.

The answer came over a beer with some new German friends. Corinna Lehmann, a vibrant young program director at the Academy of International Education Bonn (AIB), explained how Germans observe before adopting. But once they deem something necessary, Germans quickly jump on. Almost all Germans seem to have sensible, flash-based MP3 players or phones-that-are-MP3-players. Corinna owns a new Sony Ericsson phone that doubles as an MP3 player. In general, Germans seem to prefer compact, effective consumer electronic solutions over the added functionality of a video iPod or even an iPhone. And after spending a month in Germany, I must admit they are on to something.

While chatting with other Germans, I learned German that nationalism still exists--the good kind. Much of the German technology focuses on infrastructure development. It doesn't take long to realize that Germany knows how to make a train. And the Die Bahn (think Amtrak) is phasing in WiFi technology on most of its trains. Businessmen check their email on the way into work, instead of while on the clock. This fascination with infrastructure is absent in American culture. Is it dangerous to invest so much time and attention into confabulated need?

Unlike Americans, Germans are aware of any frivolous technology in their lives. Americans purchase the finest consumer electronics without hesitation. My fancy fifth generation video iPod may be nothing more than a status symbol. (Who am I kidding? I never watching videos on the thing.) Coming from a generation of Americans that's growing up with the despair of early adoption, this German pragmatism may catch on. I'm a strong believer. Only by traveling to another country did I realize that "American ingenuity" may be nothing more than a perpetual fabrication of need.

My experiences may just be the lamentations of an early adopter, but keep in mind the fifth-generation iPod is the best selling iPod ever. Have all Americans become ignorant early adopters, or are they just ahead of -- or falling behind -- the rest of the world?