Growing Up in the Digital Age - Research Paper Example

?Your Impacts of Net Generation Net Generation is a generation of freedom, fun, and collaboration. It includes the children of the post-WII generation, called baby-boomers in United States. This well-known baby-boom echo generation is the largest segment of US population. In addition, it has around 81 million members with diverse demographics (Tapscott 2).This generation is entirely different from their parent generation, and is surrounded by bits. Technology is like air for them, they are playing, learning, working, communicating, socializing, and collaborating in a digital space. Net Generation is a force for social transformation from education and work to collaborations and socialization. With their reflexes trained for speed and freedom, Net-Genre is empowered to transform the world from inside out. They are already transforming society, from education and workplace to marketplace and family, they are influencing every aspect of modern life. They are replacing the culture of control with a culture of enablement (Tapscott 6).This paper explores the influences of Net Generation on education, work and family as discussed in Don Tapscott's remarkable book, "Grown Up Digital: How the Net Generation is Changing World". Net Generation (1977-1997) People born during 1946 and 1964 are called baby-boomers who became TV Generation (Leung 107). Gen X consists of adults between the ages of 32 and 43.They are highly aggressive communicators and media-centered. Gen X is media (TV, radio, film, and internet) savvy and their habits resemble to Net Generation. Gen X is followed by Net Generation, the children of baby boomers. The Net Generation consists of children born between January 1977 and December 1997. In these 21 years, 81.1 million children were born who make 27 percent of the U.S. population called Millennials or Generation Y. They have outnumbered the baby-boomers adults. This Net Generation is entirely different from all other generations in history since they are born in a digital environment (Tapscott 2).As Tapscott puts it, "they are bathed in bits that they think it's all part of the natural landscape"(2). Currently, the Net Generation constitutes 30 percent of the total population as compared to 29 percent of their parents' baby boomers generation. As a rival to boomers and their culture, it is imparting huge cultural influences. However, the huge impact is not due to the size but Net Generation's ability to grow in an age of revolution in telecommunication. Boomer parents engaged with a new technology in their formative years like television, however, it was much more limited in its scope.Net Generation is exposed to an entirely different context and environment as compared to their parents and grandparents (Denton et al. 2). Net Generation has eight basic characteristics that make them stand out from their boomer parents and other generations. They accolade freedom and freedom to choose, they believe in customization and collaborations. They prefer a conversation rather than a lecture. They scrutinize and insist on integrity. They believe in having fun, no matter if it's school or work. They need speed and innovation (Tapscott 6). Changing ways of Communication Members of Net Generation are between the ages of 11 and 31 now. They multi-task quite heavily and use technology in a different way. For Net-Genre, mobile phone are not for calling and emailing, they use it for texting, surfing web, finding directions, taking pictures, making videos, and collaborating with others. They hang out on Facebook, MySpace, and Skype. Everyone is as cyber-sophisticated as the next person is. They turn to internet for everything they need (Tapscott 9). Education System The Net-Gen is the most ethnically diverse, largest, and the most female dominated college population in the history (O'Donnell qtd. in Tapscott 123). Unlike baby-boomers' cramming model of seeking knowledge, Net-Generation is facing a fast-paced age of information technology where one has to learn throughout life. Most of the things students learn in their freshman become obsolete when they graduate. Education model for Net generation emphasizes creativity, critical thinking, and collaborative approach in order to excel in "basics" reading, math, science, and information literacy in this age of media. It enables them to respond to opportunities and challenges with speed, agility, and innovation. Students are required to go beyond their communities and expand their knowledge as global citizens in a complex economy (Tapscott 127). In Industrial Age model, education system has been teacher centered and lecture-based. It was a model designed for a mass production economy in industrial age, but it can't deliver for the challenges of the digital economy of Net Generation. Although the Net Generation is getting enrolled in college at higher rate, there is a massive problem of college and school dropouts. Causes of an increased dropout rate are complex, but it indicates that the model has lived up to its potential and we can replace it with a better one that meets the needs of Digital Age. The new system is focused on students rather than teachers and encourages collaborations rather than isolating them. Net Generation has already changed education system as Chris Dede came up with the River City multiuser visual environment and forward-looking schools in Memphis and Toronto (Tapscott 123). The solution to education for Net Generation is interactive education that assists them to learn at their own pace. Research suggests that computer-mediated instructions produce students with higher scores, learning in less time, and developing positive attitudes towards subject matter. Contrary to older broadcast model, interactive learning model inspires students to find information, analyze it on the basis of their previous knowledge, synthesize it, and critically evaluate it to reach a conclusion. The system does not deprive Net-Generation from the possibilities to discover, collaborate, and invent (Tapscott 131-134). Transforming Workplace In addition to education, Net-Genres are also dissatisfied with older corporate model of recruiting, training, supervising, and retiring. An entirely new corporate model is required for them to initiate, engage, collaborate, and evolve. This generation's employees are highly creative, confident, savvy, upbeat, and independent, and these attributes make them a challenge to manage. Business management approaches are continuously changing in order to cater their needs of learning opportunities, instant feedback, responsibility ownership, work-life balance, and better workplace relationships. When properly managed, Net-Genres are a source of inspiration and innovation for organizations. Organizations are compelled to adapt to the needs of Net-Genres and absorb their approach for collaboration. In this competitive age, discovery and innovation is the only way to win (Chaudhry). Net-Genre is challenging but it has all the potential to tackle the changing demands of a digital age. Work has become cognitively complex, team-based, pressure-prone, and dependant on social skills. Smart companies collaborate with Net-Genre and decentralize their decision making and embrace new technologies in order to manage their global team (Tapscott 158). Net-Genres' need for freedom, fun, and collaboration is manifesting in virtual workplaces and freedom to work from anywhere, and anytime they want. Virtual workplace also gives them the opportunity to do as much as they want. Now, that's what we call true freedom. Evolving Families Net-genre has transformed the whole idea of home, family, and working. They are always connected to family member no matter where they are. Facebook, Skype, Myspace always connect them to their world. They are free from inside while controlled outside due to the fear of their boomer parents. However, this freedom comes with a cost. There are numerous concerns for privacy breach, predators, bullies, and pornography which must be dealt in a responsible way. There are fair chances that Net-Genre will find out the solution to these problems in future. When they will become parents, they are highly likely to value family and its values, they will connect and discover online, and they will establish an open and interactive family that will collaborate for a better future ((Tapscott 221-224). As a member of Net-Genre, I am wired to the world. I am confident about my future which is full of possibilities. I consider myself blessed and open to the world unlike my boomer parents. Considering it as a part of human evolution and learning, I am ready to fight negative aspects and concerns associated with internet revolution. Works Cited Choudhary,Uttara. "The Net Generation is the Smartest Generation: Don Tapscott." Diligent Media Corporation Ltd., DNA, 4 September, 2010.Web. 7 June 2012. Denton,J. Jon, et al.Net Generation Undergraduates as…Technology Mentors for Teacher Educators. National Forum of Teacher Education Journal 17.3(2004-2005)"1-17.Web. 7 June 2012. Leung, Louis. Impacts of Net-generation attributes, seductive properties of the Internet, and gratifications-obtained on Internet use. Telemactics and Informatics 20.2(2003):107-129. Web. 7 June 2012. Tapscott, Don. Grown Up Digital: How the Net Generation is Changing World. New York: McGraw-Hill Professional Publication, 2008. Print. Read More