Don Tapscott Lecture - Grown up Digital

I recently watched Don Tapscott's lecture, where he spoke about assumptions people make about Generation Y. Often, people assume that we, as a generation, are lazy and do not know as much as those who did not grow up with the Internet. Many people think that because we spend so much time online, that we know less about the world. Tapscott based his lecture on these assumptions and made it a point to prove them wrong. He used various examples to back up his position.

What i liked the most in his speech was when he mentioned that kids from the net generation (generation y) now have authority over adults because of their knowledge about technology. He says that there has been a power shift between adults and teens. Teens now have the upper hand because they are now the experts about something. Instead of always being taught by parents, teachers, etc, they are teaching them how to use certain technologies like the computer, cellphones, the Internet and more. Sometimes, adults know how to use the basics of these fairly new technologies like Facebook, Myspace, twitter, msn, etc. They're teaching them new ways to communicate. For once, they're experts at something that's actually useful for the rest of the world. They can't be talked down to because they, on average, know more than their superiors.

I agree with his position 100%. There are so many things that my parents now ask me for help with. I'll be sitting in my room and my mom will be talking to her sisters in Toronto and ask me to come in to help her with her webcam. Even though the only wrong with it is that she hasn't turned the volume on, she often feels like she doesn't know how to do it herself. So, yes, I do believe that there has been a shift in power between parents and children because of this revolution in the technological world. Although in most cases, the teenagers have the upper hand when it comes to the use of technology, it is also really helpful.

Now that more and more teachers are using the Internet in their classes, it has become easier for students to access their homework and projects or to even communicate with their teachers. For example, when I miss school, I can check the wiki homework tracker for sociology. For my other classes, I can go on our school website, sign in and send messages to my teachers. I can also access files that they have posted on the site such as project outlines, class notes, homework corrections, etc. The teachers also post all our marks for tests and assignments on this site, so that if at any time we want to see how we did, it's accessible. As well, last year, I had an assignment due in English on a day that I was sick, so when I got up, I sent my assignment to my teacher. This way, I didn't have to hand it in late.

So, yes, teenagers do spend a lot of time online, but it's not necessarily a bad thing. We use the online community and they technological world to our advantage. Everyday, we are recruiting more and more people onto our team. The whole world is at our fingertips. All you have to do is click.