Playing the government off newspapers, and newspapers against each other, still does not compare with the power of the World Wide Web. - Noam Cohen

If someone today had the Pentagon Papers, or the modern equivalent, would he still go to the press, as Daniel Ellsberg did nearly 40 years ago, and wait for the documents to be analyzed and published? Or would that person simply post them online immediately?

An engineering degree is also no longer a requisite to using technology, as seemingly anyone today can install a printer or upload a video. Similarly, another signifier of nerd status — knowing obscure facts about favorite subjects — has also lost its currency.

From gadgets to social networks to video games, the decision not to embrace the newest technology is a choice to be out of the mainstream.