Book review: ‘Grown Up Digital’ analyzes the Net generation

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It is the privilege -- or possibly the curse -- of each new generation to be different from the last. But rarely has a generational divide been as noticeable as that between those in their early 20s and the baby boomers.

This, at any rate, is the proposition put forward by Don Tapscott, a management professor at the University of Toronto and author a decade ago of ‘Growing Up Digital: The Rise of the Net Generation.’ In his latest book, ‘Grown Up Digital: How the Net Generation Is Changing Your World,’ he argues that senior corporate managers must strive to understand what he calls the Net Generation -- born between 1977 and 1997 -- often described as Generation Y.

Too often, he says, the generation that grew up with the Internet is derided by employers as ill-informed, Web-addicted, unfocused, poorly read and narcissistic.

But in a long-running, $4-million research project involving thousands of interviews with 16- to 19-year-olds in 12 countries and comparative interview programs with earlier generations, Tapscott and his team reached a different view.

Read the full book review here.

-- Richard Donkin