Prime Time Replay:
Don Tapscott
author of
Growing Up Digital
omniJohns Welcome to tonight's E-Media. Tonight's guest is Don Tapscott, author of _Growing Up Digital._ Please follow along with our discussion, and should you have a question, please wait for an appropriate moment to ask. Enjoy. ... Welcome Don!
Tapscott Looking forward to our chat.
omniJohns So, let's get started....Please tell us a little bit about the book, and what inspired you to write it.
Tapscott The children of the baby boom, born between 1977 & 1997, are the largest generation ever - 30% of the US population. But what makes them a force for transformation is not just demographic muscle, but these are the first children to come of age in the digital age. I call them the "Net Generation". They are creating a new youth culture which is about to transform the culture of work, the schools, commerce, and every other institution in society. There is no issue more important facing teachers, business people, parents, than understanding this generation. I noticed how my children effortlessly adopted new technologies. At first I thought they were prodigies, but then realized that their friends were like them. They have no fear. Because it's not technology to them. It's like the refrigerator. This led me to investigate this group as a generation and to draw conclusions for business and society.
Tapscott I'd be interested in knowing how old the participants in this chat are.
omniJohns Any body want to volunteer?
omniDatlow Well, I'm sys-opping but much of my professional life now revolves around the Internet. I'm 48
omniJohns Maybe you should go next, Don. :-)
Tapscott I'm 50 which makes me the second year of the baby boom, which began in 1946.
seba I am 43. Two kids 13, 16.
Tapscott Do your kids know as much about technology as you do?
seba I cannot follow them when they play video games.
omniDatlow I've never been good at figuring out how video games work.
seba I have much more experience with computers.
Tapscott I worked with 300 kids in writing "Growing Up Digital." 85% of them know more about computers than both of their parents. Many of the 300 got their start on video games.
omniDatlow What age range, Don?
Tapscott Age range 4 - 20.
omniDatlow I know a 12-year-old who is designing his own video games already.
omniJohns Can you give a brief rundown on some characteristics of N-Gen culture?
Tapscott I'm calling this the "Generation Lap" as most of these kids are lapping their parents on the technology track. For the first time ever, children are an authority on a central issue facing society. As for culture, they have fierce independence, they have a culture of inclusion. Discriminating on the basis of race, or gender or disabilities are bizarre notions. It's a culture of free expression, strong views. They are pre-occupied with maturity, wanting to be judged on what they say and do, not their age. They breathe innovation. If it ain't broke, they want to break it. It's a culture of immediacy - better never than late. They are sensitive to corporate interests, disliking having their time wasted or being inappropriately pitched by marketers. A culture of networking, and knowledge sharing. Imagine this culture coming into the workforce and meeting up with the Dilbertian command and control hierarchy. Sparks are going to fly.
omniJohns And how does that compare with the Boomer generation? The sixties were pretty expressive and free - and a lot of stuff was shared.
omniJohns ...for better or worse...
Tapscott The big difference is that the communication revolution of the boomers' time was - TV - was a one-way, top-down model. Controlled by adults and corporations. The new media are the antithesis - interactive, two-way, many-to-many, controlled by no-one. This creates a new medium for sharing of culture, ideas - for better or for worse.
seba I can't agree more with you. I have been working as consultant trying to help people understand some new basic rules of the information age and it's really difficult.
Tapscott By the way, time on PCs and the Net, is mainly time taken away from television. TV watching, in families with online access, is cratering.
omniJohns So, what happens when N-Gen meets Dilbert?
Tapscott N-Gen meets Dilbert = Generational Displacement.
omniJohns Seba, I'd like to find out what some of the new rules you mention are.
seba Well, my English is not very good but I am talking about team work, sharing knowledge, understanding the value of education, understanding the real value of technology.
Tapscott Imagine a wave of 80 million media-savvy, energized, collaborative, innovative, networked youngsters hitting against the traditional die-hard manager!
omniJohns Splat!
Tapscott I think this will bring a whole new meaning to "earlier retirement" for many traditional managers.
omniJohns So, Don, now that it's been brought up... Let's move on to the impact of N-Gen on education. What do you see in this area?
Tapscott First, on Seba's point, I think these 'rules' and modern ideas about management were ideas in waiting for a generation which could effortlessly embrace them. Regarding education, the current debate is dumb. To extremes - no role for technology in schools; or technology is the answer to everything. Rather, we have an opportunity to change the role of the student and teacher in the learning process. To go from what I call in the book "broadcast learning" to "interactive learning".
omniJohns Tell us more about that.
Tapscott Broadcast learning has been the dominant model for centuries. Teachers who have knowledge transmit to students who are viewed as empty vessels, and through practice and repetition, build deeper cognitive structures for recall when tested. It's been called "drill and kill." We can move to a new model using the Net and other interactive tools where students can learn self-paced rather than one-size-fits-all and rather than "instruction", they can "construct" their own knowledge base within the frameworks provided by the teacher. As it's said, the tragedy of teaching is that every lesson taught denies a student the opportunity of discovery.
omniJohns So, does this lead students from learning at "school" to more of a "life-long" learning paradigm?
podium And what about credentials & accreditation?
Tapscott Absolutely! In the old economy there were the institutions of learning and the institutions of work. Graduate and you're set for life. Today, you graduate and you're set for 15 minutes ...
omniJohns ...no kidding...
Tapscott and half of what you learned in the first year of college is obsolete in the 4th year. Each of us needs to reinvent our knowledge base multiple times as we go through life. The institutions of learning blur with those of work because work and learning becomes the same activity.
omniJohns Would you like to comment on Podium's question about credentials, etc...
Tapscott Regarding accreditation, increasingly private companies are achieving it.
omniJohns What purpose will they serve?
Tapscott So Motorola "U" can grant degrees. The bigger issue here is how you measure intellectual capital. Intellectual capital = the dominant form of capital. Right now we have primitive measures. Such as I graduated from Stanford with a degree in Electrical Engineering. We'll need more complete and meaningful measures. I was just talking to a 14-year-old girl who said "I want to graduate with a resume, not a report card." So, new measures are being developed.
omniJohns Don't sell off the mutual fund shares, yet though. How does "Generation X" fit in here?
Tapscott Generation "X" is the group born between 1965 and 1977. They are viewed as cynical, displaced and lost. Because they came into the workforce at a time when the boomers had taken up all the good jobs. I personally view this characterization as wrong.
omniJohns How so?
Tapscott In fact, in terms of culture and attitude toward technology, Generation X is closer to the Net Generation ('77 - 97) than to their boomer predecessors (46 - 65).
omniJohns nods in agreement.
omniJohns We've talked a little bit about the impact of N-Gen on the corporate world, and schooling. Let's talk about the impact on commerce. What are the characteristics of N-Geners as consumers?
podium What specific steps can we all take to bring about your vision?
Tapscott First on commerce - there are many things (discussed in the book) that N-Geners will want to buy online. The estimates on electronic commerce are low, because they only look at the technology revolution and not its intersection with the demographic revolution. N-Geners want OPTIONS. Choice is oxygen. I had three TV channels when I was a kid. These kids have a million sources of entertainment and information. They want to change their minds. Crash Bandicoot just got killed. I think I'll change my mind. They want to TRY BEFORE THEY BUY. The "demo" concept is deeply ingrained in their culture. They want to CUSTOMIZE everything. They want to imbue products with their knowledge and views. I personally think THE BRAND as we know it is toast. Regarding specific steps, Growing Up Digital is divided into twelve chapters outlining the steps that each institution should consider taking ... schools, families, marketeers, business managers, government leaders, technology strategists and so on. By the way, discussions on all these topics are underway in the forums at www.growingupdigital.com
omniJohns Isn't it a case of doing nothing? It's inevitable?
Tapscott In some cases, doing nothing would be better than the status quo. We have a lot of unease, and even hostility towards kids and their use of technology.
omniJohns "We"?
Tapscott They are often portrayed as "little victims" being preyed upon by everything from pornographers to marketeers.
omniJohns That's true in the media, yes.
Tapscott Or else they're viewed as "little criminals" - hacking, getting into trouble, taking drugs, causing the youth crime wave (a myth). I guess we fear what we don't understand.
omniJohns On that note, what do you think is the largest cyber-danger for N-Gen...or their parents?
Tapscott To me, the biggest danger domestically and even more so internationally, is the "digital divide". We're creating a two-tiered world of haves and have-nots. This can lead to knowers and know-nots and a bi-polarization in society. As you may know, I'm also very concerned about the question of privacy and wrote a book on that topic.
omniJohns So, closer to home, you don't see N-Gen as "victims"? I get the impression that you feel that N-Gen can pretty much take care of itself.
Tapscott Not exactly. I think parents have a responsibility to help ensure that their children's experience in cyberspace is a positive one. But we don't give kids enough credit. I think we also have a responsibility to assist them in the transition to the 'world of work'. They have such an enormous amount to give, and all we need to do is help them channel it into the flow so everyone can benefit from it.
omniJohns That's been the cry of teenagers since the concept was invented in this country - a teenager being someone whose body is telling it it's an adult, but society saying "not yet. Now be quiet and eat your beans."
Tapscott Yes, the difference is that for the first time in history, children are an authority on a central issue facing society. I was an authority on model trains but today kids are an authority on the innovation which is transforming business, entertainment, learning and most social institutions.
Jody Don, do you have any suggestion how those of us in the workplace can help make the transition into the world of work easier, and more enjoyable, and more of a positive experience for N-Geners?
Tapscott We'll need to treat them as capital rather than a variable expense (the way we treat people today.) They'll want a share in the wealth they create. Get ready for stock options becoming really big.
Jody Are you saying that we should openly invest in them, even knowing that they may take what they learn from us elsewhere at any point in time? I hope so. I believe in that. We benefit from them in so many other ways.
Tapscott We need to give them tools that they're used to.
omniJohns So, what does the future hold for the relationship between the Baby Boomer generation and N-Gen?
Tapscott This is the most controversial part of Growing Up Digital. If we don't change the way we're going , one scenario is a generational explosion that could make the 60's look like kids stuff. Regarding keeping in touch, sounds great. My email is easy to remember - don@tapscott.com And please join me and Jody and the others at growingupdigital.com for ongoing discussions on a wide range of topics.
omniJohns Well, thank you very much Don! I sure learned a lot about what to expect.
Editor's note: At this point, a NewsFlash - an message sent to all discussion areas - appeared announcing a forum for parents.
Tapscott Did you just see that news flash about kids' values? That's what I'm talking about. Kids today have great values, at least according to the research I've conducted. But we have these amazing statements like in the news flash decrying the lack of values...that these kids are a generation of self-centered, immediate gratification shoppers. This is basically a crock. Kids today care.
podium Yes they do!
omniJohns Why do you think parents aren't seeing it?
Tapscott Old generations have always been uneasy about new ones. Old media are uneasy about new media. Today we've got an older generation with its old media uncomfortable about a new generation with a new media. The old media is controlled by adults ... the new media is controlled by no one. Couple that with the fact that we often don't know what kids are doing online. Add in the Generation Lap and you've got a formula for a lot of negativity about youth, youth culture, and youth use of technology.
omniJohns Maybe you ought to go over to that chat room and find out what's going on.. :-). I'd like to thank everyone for coming.
Tapscott Thank you for the thoughtful moderation. You've obviously read the book. :-)
seba Thank you, wonderful talk. I'll buy the book.
Tapscott Seba, thank you!
podium Yes... thanks for your help!
Tapscott Signing out now. Thanks everyone!
omniJohns Thanks again Don!
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