For me, he comes off sometimes like an overly proud grandmother bragging to her church friends about how wonderful we are. But I get that perhaps he intended this book to be ultra-encouraging because there are so many skeptics (especially among people in his age group, he says) who don't believe in this generation. Overall, I think it's good that he's advocating so strongly for us. And he's doing it with a lot of research -- Tapscott's studies, polls, quotes, and anecdotes portray the Net Generation is very flattering light.
The second part of "Grown Up Digital" goes over four important systems in a Net Gener's world: school, work, the store, and the family. Again, he ends each chapter with a list of tips to help the world understand and accommodate the Net Gen's norms. One of the biggest changes to differentiate the Boomers and the Net Geners is their method and expectation of communication. It comes up in the classroom, advertising, and the workplace: the Boomers hold onto a broadcast method, while the Net Geners have adopted a network method. In other words, the older generation believes that one person at the top of a hierarchy knows, controls, and distributes the information (one-to-many). The younger generation has grown up sharing all information with everyone, collaborating (many-to-many).
Problems are cropping now that the new expectations do not match the systems that govern Net Geners. In school, they want to be part of a discovery process – not sit in front of an all-knowing teacher who dumps knowledge into their brains. In the work place, they want to be a part of the team, not a low-level grunt who has to "pay his dues" before he earns any credibility. When shopping, they want their opinions to be reflected in the products they buy, and expect companies to take them seriously or they'll shop somewhere else.
The family forefront has a different contrast. Different factors shape the argument for Boomer-vs-Net Gener, but they still cause friction and misunderstanding between the two. The new generation has become notorious for moving back home after college and staying inside on the computer, whereas the Boomers would never think of moving back and found freedom in the outdoors. Boomers typically criticize their children for being coddled and lazy, but things have changed since their times. The outdoors were not a "free" place when we were growing up, as AMBER Alerts and stranger danger campaigns ran all over television. Instead, we turned to the web for freedom.
And many kids move home and value their relationships with their parents, not just because they are trusting and honest, but because many Net Geners find themselves in debt when they finish college. Not to mention the huge incurrence of "helicopter parents" – Tapscott tells stories of mothers who submit job applications for their kids, or who complain to the CEO at their kids' jobs. Not cool.
I think Tapscott is doing a good job of giving evidence that the Net Generations have huge potential for success, despite the haters. The only thing that has me worried is that some of his conclusions are based on the aspirations or the intent of the Net Geners, not their actual actions. He balances out these out with anecdotes of successful twenty-something year olds, but I don't think our credentials are quite as shiny as he makes them out to be -- yet. Maybe my skepticism is rooted in my experiences and judgements of my peers in college. Many of my peers have bright futures and tons of potential, but I know an equal if not greater number of people who seem to have already settled.
