For Christmas my daughter got an iPod Touch.  Or, better said, I got my iPhone back.  

It seemed every time I was with my daughter, my iPhone was with her, too.  She loaded it full of apps she enjoyed playing...a lot.  In addition, she had filled her 8GB Nano with music, movies and photos and it couldn't hold anymore.  Can you believe that?  And she's only 11.

Needless to say we were both thrilled when Christmas Day dawned and an iTouch was under the tree.  To her credit, one of the first things out of my daughter's mouth after "thank you" was "do you want my old Nano?"  

Little did we both know but her simple offer to share her old electronics with me was an example of a trend being observed by the smart folks at JWT (an ad agency that has been tracking trends for years).  They call it the "hand-me-up" trend.  In their description, adult children are giving old electronic devices such as phones, video cameras and MP3 players to their adult parents as they trade up to newer devices.  But I have a feeling they would agree that the experience I had is just as likely to happen as we Gen X parents strive to give our kids all the advantages we feel we didn't get as kids,  often forgoing things for ourselves.

Have you shared an old electronic device with your parents when you bought a new one?  Have you been the recipient of a previously owned device from your kids?