Based on a $4 million research project, Grown Up Digital investigates how the ‘Net Generation’ is beginning to redefine work, education and government. The book builds upon Tapscott’s earlier work Growing up Digital which showed how young people growing up with the Internet were starting to behave in a very different way from previous generations. Now turning 30, this generation is starting to make its mark in the job market and society as a whole, and so the generation gap is becoming increasingly significant, particularly within large corporations. The book is particularly timely given the recent success of Obama’s election campaign which highlighted the role of social technologies such as Facebook and Twitter in raising funds and in connecting with and engaging young people on a massive scale.
While some commentators have criticised the Net Generation for being apathetic, mollycoddled and anti-social (wasn’t it ever thus?!) Tapscott’s research provides a different perspective, arguing that prolonged exposure to digital technologies has led to faster reaction times, an enhanced ability to multitask and a healthy scepticism for the status and authority of traditional ‘experts’. He draws upon a number of personal stories to demonstrate that the Net Generation is actually focused upon innovation, collaboration and personalisation. Anecdotes from his own family members liven up the research results, but also lay it open to accusations of US middle class bias and not fully acknowledging the ongoing reality of the digital divide.
Tapscott does criticise the Net Generation – for only paying ‘continuous partial attention’ to what is going on around them, for having unrealistic expectations about the world of work, and for a lack of loyalty to companies. However, on the whole he is very positive about the prospects for society, and the book presents his arguments in a thorough but also an accessible way. One minor gripe concerns the rather inconvenient grouping of notes by chapter at the end of the book rather than inserting them into the text where relevant, but the lessons to be learned from the content make it well worth the effort.
Posted by Lisa 
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