Person of the Year -- 2006

We recently read an article from Time Magazine about their 2006 Person of the Year. When I found out I (and you, and your friends) were named the "Person of the Year" I was intrigued. How could this be? How did I go four years without knowing of this honor? (I mean, who doesn't like being recognized or honored?)

I found it interesting that Time Magazine chose 2006 as the year to give recognition to the individuals using web 2.0 as a second nature. I feel that I know more about web 2.0 in the year 2010 than I did in 2006. My education has furthered, as have my reasoning and ways for why I use the internet. Granted I was in high school when I had my first blogging experience but it did not last long. In 2008 I took a Political Communication course that relied heavily on blogging. In 2010 I am involved in two classes that rely on blogging, as well as interactions on a class wiki site, Second Life, podcasting and screencasting. If you asked me in 2006 what these configurations were, I would probably have no idea what it meant to podcast.

Personally, I feel Time Magazine gave this award to the general public too early. In 2010 we are much more advanced than we were at the end of 2006. At the same time, I understand we continually change along with technology. In 2006 we could never have imagined technologies such as the iPad or the popularity of creating and subscribing to podcasts by 2010. This leads me to ask one question: because we as a society are continually advancing with technology, should we continue to get "Person of the Year" awards every few years because we continue to one-up ourselves?