This could develop into an ongoing, serious problem. As tech becomes more decentralized (the laptop I'm writing this on has more raw computing power than a room-sized 1960s mainframe), IT-as-a-career is suffering. As more developers create apps allowing processes to be outsourced (not a bad thing--read Teresa Leung's "Industry Profile" stories for examples of Hong Kong entrepreneurs who use their tech-savvy to aid businesses in the HKSAR and elsewhere), in-house tech-workers are becoming less essential. And that may spin students in our ever-increasingly competitive educational environment into different career choices.

The evolution-speed of enterprise-level tech is another factor. There are few if any techs that support Sony's Beta or U-Matic video machines these days, although those were industry-standards not so long ago. The relentless crush of Moore's Law has digitized the global village: Marshall McLuhan was only half-right as a futurist, William Gibson (who coined the term "cyberspace" and gave it form) is an essential part of the mix. Computing power shifted from the mainframe-room, to our desktops, into our pockets. We can get more done with the new machines...or we can fling cartoon-birds.

Much has been written about the way young minds--weaned on digital devices--will develop. Will multi-tasking become an innate trait, allowing the next generation of tech-workers to juggle tasks simultaneously with greater productivity? Or will information overload prove too much? As my colleague Chee-Sing Chan put it in an excellent blog post: "When will the addition of a technology bring no further utility or productivity to anyone because it's all too much?"