Net Geners Come of Age

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They're multitasking, and they're talking back. It's a deeply interactive experience. Net Geners are active initiators, collaborators, organizers, readers, writers, authenticators, and even strategists, as in the case of video games. They do not just observe; they participate.

They inquire, discuss, argue, play, shop, critique, investigate, ridicule, fantasize, seek, and inform.

Not Waiting for Orders

They're using their Web, the New Web, to create their own content, collaborate with others, and build communities. It has become a tool for ordinary people to organize themselves, instead of waiting for orders from the authorities.

This has left a deep impression on the sensitive teenage brain. It's conditioned them to expect an interactive, two-way conversation—with teachers, with businesses and stores, with politicians, and even with employers. This challenges the established way of thinking in many domains.

Take education. For this generation, the old model is wrong. It puts the teacher on the stage. The teacher teaches; the students write notes, study, and write exams, alone. This model of education may have been good for training young people to obey orders, but it makes no sense for a generation that's grown up to collaborate and exchange ideas with people around the world.

"Prosumers," Not Consumers

Shopping is an entirely different experience for the Net Geners as well. They don't play by many of the old rules that governed the practice of marketing. Even if they don't use TiVo (TIVO) to skip TV ads, they don't pay much attention to them. Nor do they care much for newspaper ads (if they even read newspapers anymore). Instead, they find out about products and services by asking their friends or consulting bloggers. Some have even become "prosumers," directly helping companies create products and brands.

The Net Generation is just beginning to enter the business world, and already they're challenging some of its long-established ways. Many Net Geners are uneasy about the standard workday in the office; they'd prefer to work where and when they want. They'll probably change jobs far more often than their parents did, too. If they get a chance, they'll even skip the established lines of authority and talk directly to the CEO!

Banning Facebook at Work

Many employers are already exasperated. Some are even trying to make the Net Generation fit into their idea of work—by banning Facebook at work, for example.

It's adding up to a major clash between the generations. But this one is very different from the mile-wide fissure that cracked open between boomers and their parents. Back in the 1960s, the generation war raged on every front: from clothes and music to politics and values. But now, Net Geners and their parents are coming together inside many families. Net Geners generally feel close to their parents; they even like their music. That's no surprise, considering that it was boomers who took the lead in democratizing the family to give their kids a say.

The Net Geners may not be challenging their parents as people, but they certainly are challenging the institutions boomers run, and they have tools of unprecedented power to succeed. We've already seen what they can do in this amazing Presidential race. Don't be surprised if they push for change in every domain they enter.

Society Needs to Change

The bottom line is this: If you understand the Net Generation, you will understand the future. You will also understand how our institutions and society need to change today.

Don Tapscott, author of Grown Up Digital: How the Net Generation Is Changing Your World, is the founder and chairman of nGenera Insight. Other books he has authored or co-authored include Wikinomics, Paradigm Shift, The Digital Economy, and Growing Up Digital.