Customer Reviews

Growing Up Digital: The Rise of the Net Generation

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(20)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This book will definitely appeal to young people. The author creates the term 'N-Generation' obstensibly because Generation-Y was owned by another author. The book creates a super youth culture that is underappreciated and misunderstood. If you want to write a book that will appeal to young people and get a good rating on the college campus ... just trash the previous generation and the youth will scramble on board the turnip cart. This book does a disservice to youth and to the previous generation by promoting stereotypes, underscoring obscure opinions, and understating the contributions made by the Boomers.
The author should keep in mind that the N-geners didn't create computers and for the most part, they are clueless when it comes to coding. They do not qualify as experts ... not by a long shot. To encourage youth today to believe that they are experts in computers ... and the people who designed them are not ... is setting them up for real disappointment.
The author's opinions on TV and media are also absurd. He creates a model in which the state of everything that is not N-Gen is fixed and unchanging ... while the opposite is true for his heroes. Perhaps the most convincing argument that can be made against this author's opinions is that a good deal of his computer-based examples are already 'off-the-air'. Moreover, his characterization of the pre-web media era as being fearful of the new technology is way off base ... and today's integration of technologies is proof of this.
The book was written to promote sales rather than good, usable, and thoughtful ideas. Young people will adore this author ... not because he makes a good case ... but because he writes what they want to hear ... and makes them feel the way they want to feel ... like heroes.

When I first read it years ago, and rereading it today, I find a lot in this book that is insightful and, moreso, true. The author gives a look into the trends, ways, and lives of the N-Gen that is intriguing. Being one of this generation, it is like looking into my past and recalling my childhood.

This is absolutely one of the best researched, most interesting, well written, and easy to read books on this topic. A must read for educators of Info-Age youngsters. It will enlighten the pre- Info-Age generations to a whole new world and way of thinking!

Maybe my expectations were too high based on the reviews. I found most of the information in this book to be news items. Also, anyone that follows technology in the news will not find much insight into this book. The book is an overview of how the younger generation uses technology in their social lives, play and work. If you are not very familiar with the internet and don't watch the news this book would be worthwhile. However, anyone who uses the internet and keeps up on the news won't get much out of it.

Tapscott's compelling book provides us with an elucidating glimpse and revelation as to how the Net Generation's facility with the digital media is changing human interactions and impacting our future, with specific reference to education, business, economics, politics, and even parenting. These "bathed in bits" children, those between 2 and 22 in 2000, are characterized as tolerant of diversity, self-confident, curious, assertive, self-reliant, contrarian, flexible, and highly intelligent. These characteristics are a necessary consequence of their generation's exposure to the Net. The Net's structure has allowed for a more fluid interchange of information and interactive type of communication. In cyberspace, there are no hierarchies and the readily available access to information has created in its young netizens the quest to search for and be critical of information. This new information model is a digression and radical shift from the industrial, broadcast model that is top-down, linear, centralized, and passive. The new model is the antithesis of this broadcast model because it is interactive, distributed, and malleable.

"For the first time in history youth are an authority on an innovation central to society's development" (Preface, ix). Our children know a lot more than we do in terms of technology. According to Tapscott, this situation has created not just a generation gap, but a generation lap, akin to race track leads measured in terms of gaps that consequently metaphorically heightens the stark contrast of technological knowledge between children and parents. Because these children are born with technology, they assimilate them, rather than accommodate them, which is what adults do to cope with technological advances that often produces cognitive friction for them.

Whatever our station in life is or whatever role we play now, the N-Geners have serious implications for us. Tapscott mentions that they are "learning, developing, and thriving in the digital world. They need better tools, better access, more services, and more freedom to explore, not the opposite" (p. 7). Here lie the implications and challenges for us. For instance, in the workplace, these youngsters will function better in a decentralized, independent, collaborative, and innovative environment. In the educational arena, our old and outdated paradigms of teaching and learning need to change because these methodologies do not address the need of these people for more interactive and non-linear approaches to learning.

As a force of unprecedented social transformation, we can learn from the experiences of these N-Geners, and listen to their needs and concerns, if we are to proactively shape the technologically driven future we all will be heading to. Tapscott admonishes us by saying that the future is not something that is predicted, but is rather a goal to be achieved. In our hands as educators, parents, business people, politicians... lies the future. Will we choose to be prepared? Will we heed the "Call of the N-Geners"?

Growing Up Digital: The Rise of the Net Generation. Don Tapscott 1998.

Tapscott acknowledges and celebrates that "The Children of a Digital Age" are reconfiguring our work environments, relationships, educational systems and learning modes, concepts of citizenship and democracy, and our present and future.

Tapscott, author of "Digital Economy" and others, President of New Paradigm Learning Corporation and chairman of a think tank funded by leading technology and government organizations, offers an insiders view of the "Net Generation".

The "N-Geners" are over 88 million strong and represent the largest demographic group in the United States and Canada. They are the pioneering generation growing up immersed in the ubiquitous new digital media - computers, the Internet, CD-ROMs, video games and more. Forget a childhood of imaginary playmates - "Net Geners" now use their imaginations and technology skills to communicate across the Web, ignoring limitations of location and time via digital media. Major themes explored in "Growing Up Digital" include social transformation, democracy and citizenship, the nature of education, learning, business, communication and interactivity in the digital media era.

Tapscott approaches this post "Smells like Teen Spirit" Nirvana-generation with sheer fascination and importantly, respect. Tapscott's strength is his willingness to listen. As a young "N-Gener" interviewee points out, she feels that adults take her opinion more seriously because she may know more about technology than they do. The Net interview discussions with 300 youth between the age of four and twenty, led by a research team leader all of 24 years old, produced fascinating insights into our future - who we are and who will be as students, teachers, workers, citizens, consumers. Tapscott's exuberance for our collective "brave new world" as a digital media-shaped society is tempered by an acknowledgement of the widening global digital divide. He points out that "N-Geners" may end up a fractured society of Information Haves and Have-Nots - a situation all too reminiscent of inequalities not new to this century.

Need to catch up on your children's or your students' tech lingo? Why can your daughter or son access and manage these technologies with grace and a sense of play while the rest of us and our last century contemporaries secretly scratch our heads? Written in 1998, Tapscott's book is a manual for the 21st century. Other academicians may research these areas from a deeper scholarly, research-oriented perspective. Tapscott offers an enjoyable and illuminating read for educators, parents, business moguls - anyone with a vested interest in joining in the information revolution - everyone except "Net Geners" themselves - they already know...

Teresa Grenot
Doctoral Student
Pepperdine University

By a doctoral student at Gonzaga University--
Growing Up Digital is a must read for educators, parents, organizational leaders, and anyone seeking to better understand the influence of technology on our society. This book takes a look at a generation (called the Net Generation, referring to children between the ages of 2 and 22 in 1999) that has grown up "surrounded by digital media." Tapscott takes a look at how this generation learns, plays, communicates, works, and creates communities, which he paints as very different from their parents. The author states "children without access to the new media will be developmentally disadvantaged." This is commonly referred to as the "Digital Divide," a topic he explores in one chapter.

Most of the ideas for this book came from discussions with about 300 N-Geners between the ages of 4 and 20 over a one-year period of time. Kate Baggott (age 24) led the research. The insights are fresh and challenging, especially to adults who consider the computer to be much like a TV in usefulness.

Tapscott is very positive in his impressions of N-Geners. His research seems to support that "the children of the digital age appear to be smart, accepting of diversity, curious, assertive, self-reliant, high in self-esteem, and global in orientation." He even claims that "it is not the N-Gen children who are being robbed of social development, it is those adults, through fear or ignorance, deny themselves the experience of participating in the great revolution of our times."

I couldn't help but read this book with an eye to my own children. Even though I could afford very little when my children were young, I bought a computer when they first became available, forsaking a color TV (ours was black and white), a VCR, and a microwave for years. My son, age 18, has been programming for fun for years, having taught himself various languages. I could only help him with BASIC when he was 10. My daughter, age 12, has been developing websites for several years (completely self-taught), including graphics, opinion polls, discussion forums (which she administers, seeking moderators to assist her). Her most recent discussion board had over 2000 posts in a matter of days. My discussion board (my first) had 10 posts after 3 weeks (and half were mine). I have never regretted giving this educational opportunity to my children. I teach at a local community college, where my students are mostly adults who want to learn how to use computers. These adults must adapt to the digital age, much like learning a foreign language, and it is difficult. For my children, I just gave them access and got out of the way.

In conclusion, I was reading this book in the month of September of 2001. On the 11th my focus turn to the news events on the TV. My children barely watched the TV, but instead turned to the Internet and found what they needed to know, many times before I heard the same news. Not only were they informed, but also through the discussion boards they were processing the events emotionally. This book is helped me as a parent and an educator to understand the N-Geners. I highly recommend it to all readers.

In his book "Growing up Digital", Don Tapscott introduces to us a new generation of computer users-the N-Gen generation. Unlike Baby Boomers and Generation Xers, N-Geners are growing up in an interactive world, a world where the phrase "technological revolution" means as little to them as "Woodstock" or "The Cold War". By interviewing a mixed group of more than 300 N-Geners, Tapscott presents different ways N-Geners develop, learn, think, interact, react, work and play. From his interviews and observations, Tapscott makes some general observations and predictions about the ways the media, educational systems, corporations and consumers will change to accommodate them.

"Growing up Digital" begins with a discussion on the differences between the N-Gen generation and those before it. The most significant of the differences is the interactivity and self-directed learning that is available to N-Geners via the Internet. As a whole, N-Geners do not watch nearly as much television as their parents did. Also, because of the wide-range of services available on-line, and the ability to comparison shop at the click of a button, this generation seeks information and expects "the best for less."

Tapscott then dedicates separate chapters for the way the N-Gen generation thinks, works, learns, plays, shops and interacts with their families. Throughout the chapters he supports his findings with direct quotes from N-Geners and excerpts from "chat room" dialogues. Common misconceptions and concerns about kids abusing the Internet and becoming socially inept are addressed. In fact, Tapcsott discusses how computers and the Internet can be useful tools for interactive learning, social development and multi-tasking.

Also discussed in "Growing up Digital" is current state and outcome of using computers as learning tools in the classroom, and the roles corporations can play to support the development of the skills of their future employees. The existence of a "generation gap" between the N-Gen generation and the generations before them, combined with a "digital divide" amongst their own generation, are the among the challenging of the challenges facing N-Geners.

The last chapter of "Growing Up Digital" is entitled "Leaders of the Future", and begins in the following way, "As N-Gen comes of age, what kind of world will they create? They are the best-informed and most active generation ever. These young people will dominate most of the twenty-first century. As they take, transform, or smash the reins of power, culture and social development, what can we expect? What values will they hold? How will they shape the world?" (page 281)

Tapscott predicts we will see the most influential changes in the way businesses are re-shaped to become more open and less hierarchical. Customers will dictate the way products and services are catered to them. Teams will become global and business will occur across new boundaries and borders. Proactive "twenty-first century" companies and organizations will embrace change and seek to truly understand N-Geners as they enter the workforce-and the most successful of them all will empower the N-Generation with access to the technology that will truly help them grow.

Being in the "Baby Bust" generation, and seeing what is on the horizon for the next generation, I was compelled to read this book. Overall, I was frightened. Frightened because I see a lot of what Tapscott describes coming true in today's companies.

What I liked most: I liked the fact that this book relied on actually interviewing the N-gen crowd and finding out what they really think versus creating theories based on what we "think" these n-genners believe. For instance, with increasing demands to add net nannies and additional constraints in order to "protect" our children, we have to think about what we are really afraid of. All of the thinks like pornography and net stalkers do exist, but today's n-genner is much more intelligent and not as interested in these things as the baby boomers would lead us to think.

In our doctoral program, we focus on social learning. Increasingly I see that being infused into the work world. Tapscott talks about the N-gen as being interested in communication, interaction, and having their opinions heard. In highly creative youth filled companies, there is room for play, open expression of ideas, learning from one another in terms of mentoring and OJT skills. Contrast this to the "normal" hierarchical corporate culture where training is limited, people sit in cubicles, and fraternizing is seen as wasting time. Increasingly, as more n-genners enter the workforce, social learning will need to become the standard, or good talent will go elsewhere.

While I started learning to program computers in junior high on a radioshack TRS-80, what I learned was nothing compared to what these kids are learning. Two year olds are using computer games. 14 year olds have their own web companies. 18 year olds have their own multi-million dollar companies. What becomes increasingly frightening is how we can teach people whose knowledge and abilities often times surpass what they will learn in school. Tapscott talks about the fact that most students will know more about, and how to effectively use, technology than their teachers. What moves do we need to make in education to accomodate this?

Overall, this was a great book to learn about how technology affects the future, especially considering the generational lags. The only thing that I would disagree with were a few things that seemed a little "pie in the sky" for my tastes. I think there was a lot of good research done, but it doesn't seem that everything would work out as positively as he described.

Don Tapscott's Growing Up Digital provides the insider perspective on what it means to be part of the net generation. His work is the result of discussions and interviews with young people all over the world during a one-year period. What he presents to his readers is insight into the impact the Internet has had on our youth and the power this generation brings with it in making a new future.

To those of us born into the Baby-boomer generation, technology and the information age are seen as challenging obstacles for us to overcome in order to survive in today's world. To the net generation, technology is merely an extension of self and is used to explore one's world to the fullest. N-Geners are born into an age of interactive digital media. They have an active role in seeking information, making connections, forming opinions, and nurturing relationships. Their time spent on the computer is in no way comparable to a previous generation's time spent in front of TV. N-Geners are forging intellectual pathways through their time learning and manipulating available digital tools. They are comfortable being in control of their own destinies. They have a solid self-image and seek authentic recognition for their talents and achievements. This is the generation that will truly transition our society into the "Information Age".

The challenge they offer to society is to provide them with a meaningful education. No longer will it be appropriate to "broadcast" packets of information from a podium. These students need to learn by manipulating the information, processing opinions, forming new judgments, analyzing perspectives. This is a generation that needs to have an active learning environment. Not only do schools need to provide the mechanical means by which students can stay current and connected, but must also adjust the curriculum and standards to adapt to a population that will participate in its own education.

N-Geners are globally aware and connected. They routinely collaborate across racial, gender, social, economic, and cultural divides. The neutrality that the net offers is changing the social interactions of this generation. Furthermore, they are preparing for a world where intellectual capital is the value of a company. These individuals know how to work as a team without losing their sense of identity. They recognize the necessity and value of collaboration and information management.

Life in the 21st Century promises new challenges and new perspectives. The net generation will be fulfilling those challenges by bringing their fierce independence, social awareness, demand for equity, creativity, and inquisitiveness to the workforce. The traditional hierarchy of the old corporation will not survive these new workers. The office of tomorrow will have to be a true learning organization that is organized not vertically, but horizontally with equal recognition of all collaborators. N-Geners will be the intellectual capital of the future.