Grown Up Digital: How the Net Generation is Changing Your World HC (Hardcover)

by Don Tapscott (Author)
Key Phrases: digital immersion, dumbest generation, eight norms, Net Geners, Net Generation, United States (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

SELECTED AS A 2008 BEST BUSINESS BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE ECONOMIST

The Net Generation Has Arrived.
Are you ready for it?

Chances are you know a person between the ages of 11 and 30. You've seen them doing five things at once: texting friends, downloading music, uploading videos, watching a movie on a two-inch screen, and doing who-knows-what on Facebook or MySpace. They're the first generation to have literally grown up digital--and they're part of a global cultural phenomenon that's here to stay.

The bottom line is this: If you understand the Net Generation, you will understand the future.

If you're a Baby Boomer or Gen-Xer: This is your field guide.

A fascinating inside look at the Net Generation, Grown Up Digital is inspired by a $4 million private research study. New York Times bestselling author Don Tapscott has surveyed more than 11,000 young people. Instead of a bunch of spoiled “screenagers” with short attention spans and zero social skills, he discovered a remarkably bright community which has developed revolutionary new ways of thinking, interacting, working, and socializing.

Grown Up Digital reveals:

• How the brain of the Net Generation processes information
• Seven ways to attract and engage young talent in the workforce
• Seven guidelines for educators to tap the Net Gen potential
• Parenting 2.0: There's no place like the new home
• Citizen Net: How young people and the Internet are transforming democracy

Today's young people are using technology in ways you could never imagine. Instead of passively watching television, the “Net Geners” are actively participating in the distribution of entertainment and information. For the first time in history, youth are the authorities on something really important. And they're changing every aspect of our society-from the workplace to the marketplace, from the classroom to the living room, from the voting booth to the Oval Office.

The Digital Age is here. The Net Generation has arrived. Meet the future.

From the Back Cover

"A fascinating look at how young people are transforming our culture. The bottom line: An insightful, data-rich analysis with broad implications for managers, marketers, and politicians." -BusinessWeek

"In the past two years, Don Tapscott has overseen a $4.5m study of nearly 8,000 people in 12 countries born between 1978 and 1994. In Grown Up Digital he uses the results to paint a portrait of this generation that is entertaining, optimistic, and convincing."-The Economist

"Grown Up Digital paints a generally encouraging picture . . . an optimistic view of how humans are evolving to engage with technology. Literally evolving: Mr. Tapscott cites scientific research that people who use digital media from a young age have different brain development than those who don't. . . . Republicans and Democrats, conservatives and liberals alike, can draw lessons about the expectations of young people raised on real-time access to deep layers of information." -The Wall Street Journal

MEET THE NET GENERATION.

“No one has been a more informed commentator on the transformative impact of the digital age than Don Tapscott.”
—Brad Anderson, Chairman & CEO, Best Buy

“Don Tapscott provides an exciting roadmap to surviving and thriving in the Connected Era.”
—Michael S. Dell, Chairman & CEO, Dell

“Don Tapscott nails it. A must read.”
—Richard Florida, author, Who’s Your City? and The Rise of the Creative Class

“For anyone leading a talent-based organization, Grown Up Digital is an essential read.”
—William D. Green, Chairman & CEO, Accenture

“The first guide to the land of the Net Generation that should be read both by visitors and residents alike.”
—Nicholas Negroponte, Founder & Chairman, One Laptop Per Child

“In Grown Up Digital, Tapscott uniquely shows how to harvest the big contributions this Net Generation has to offer.”
—Frederick W. Smith, Chairman, President & CEO, FedEx

“Don Tapscott is one of the world's leading cyber gurus.”
—Al Gore

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 1 edition (October 3, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0071508635
• ISBN-13: 978-0071508636
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #7,447 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Long on description short on prescription -- good reference not a must read now, December 23, 2008

By	M. McDonald (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

I had high expectations for this book based on Tapscott's prior work, the fact that this is based on a multi million-dollar study, and that Net Generation is coming into the workforce. I did not think that my expectations were too high, but I may be wrong, as Grown Up Digital did not deliver for me. It is long on description and short on prescription.

It's a good book, but not one that shapes your thinking like Tapscott's Wikinomics book, nor does it break significant new ground relative to all the other books covering this subject. I put this book down several times for weeks, to read other books, so it is more of a reference than a must read.

I would recommend reading Plugged In by Tamara Erickson as I think it's a better business book, one that is more focused and more valuable to readers than Grown Up Digital. I reviewed that book as well and found some issues, but it provides a more succinct, actionable and insightful focus - which were things that I had hoped for here.

Strengths:

The book is comprehensive in its description and treatment of the Net Generation and describing this generation as a group with its own values and behaviors that will have in impact on society.

The book looks at the Net Generation from different perspectives in terms of their impact on the workplace, society, education, etc.

The book provides some brief caricatures of the net generation so they are able to speak in their own words what is going on.

Challenges:

The primary challenge is the books single dimensional view of the net generation in terms of their adoption and use of technology. It does not take into account that this group grew up under a period of relative social, political and economic stability. Nor does it consider the future of being anything but a straight-line progression of the world in 2006. The economic conditions will be definitional to this generation, but unending growth and prosperity was an assumption beneath this book.

The book treats this generation as a single block; they are all well educated, western leaning, capitalism supporting, environmentally conscious individuals. Such stereotyping does not take into account the fact that any generation is made up of diverse people, with different backgrounds, needs and ambitions. I had hoped that the breadth of Tapscotts research would have done more than paint every net generation person the same.

The book repeats itself using the same assertions as answers for the different chapters. The fact that the net generation wants choice, customization, freedom and the like are all true, but Tapscott uses choice as the answer for every problem ranging from the workplace to society. That broad brush is too simplistic.

The book fawns over the net generation believing that they can do no wrong. This is a critical challenge in the book, as Tapscott does not seem able to look at this generation from an unbiased perspective. You see this in Tapscotts' response to people who have been critical of this generation; he basically dismisses these comments or explains them away. He labels people who have a less than rosey view as nGenerationphobic -- this labeling is a bad sign not found in his other work. Tapscott has personalized the 'do no wrong" in this generation throughout the book by referring to his children as the epitome of this generation and all that it can do. That personalization limits his objectivity and colors the value of the insights.

Tapscott frequently refers to his project being `definitive on this generation' however he does not show much if any of the data from this multi-million dollar study. He does quote data from other people's studies to the degree that it supports his argument. It would have been nice to see some of the data that is so definitive.

The whole issue of the Net Generation has been the focus of Don Tapscott's work for most of his career. I was hoping for more in this book, the result of a multi-million dollar study that seeks to be definitional about this generation. I have great hopes for the Net Generation, as do we all. This book is helpful in understanding that generation, but not powerful enough to define a generation that holds the future in their hands.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Net Genner on the Net Generation, November 28, 2008

By	Quantum "neophyte" (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews

I'll admit, I didn't read this book cover to cover. I spent about 3 hours reading it, which probably means that I `read' about half and skimmed the rest. This speaks both to the book's strengths and its weaknesses. On one hand, the book is clearly organized, with three levels of subtitles within the book making skimming much more efficient. On the other hand as a member of the generation that Tapscott is trying to describe, at least 60% of the information is intuitive to the point of banality.

What Tapscott does bring to the table, however, is a quantitative approach to how the Net Generation is truly different from those preceding it, with some concrete information deeper than our ubiquitously cited ability to multitask or our improved hand eye coordination. His chapter on "The Net-generation Brain" contained some interesting statistics. For example, he discusses how 10,000 hours of video games and 20,000 hours of internet before age 20, have a positive effect on our ability to process visual information in rapid and complex ways. Additionally, like the Economist review that introduced me to the book, I believe the chapter on `Obama, Social Networks, and Digital engagement' is the primary selling point for the book with interesting anecdotes and a broad view picture of its effectiveness, although the book was published too early to claim it was the reason for his victory.

In the end, there's not enough new information contained in this book for a blanket recommendation. It is has enough to interest genre hacks willing to wade through the banalities, or those who have not yet been exposed to Net Gen ideas. I guess that means I should recommend this book to my mother.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Saved, November 29, 2008

By	T. Johnson - See all my reviews

While I fouund Mr. Tapscott"s book interesting I got a little tired of reading how the net generation is the answer to the world's present and future problems. It seemed to me that Mr. Tapscott's purpose for writing this book was to debunk any negative comments or research that he had ever heard or read regarding the net generation. According to Mr. Tapscott, other then their one negative of sharing too much personal information on facebook, the net generation will make all other generations pale in compaison.