Eight Net Gen Norms

Dan Tapscott's Grown Up Digital covers the 8 Net Gen Norms. He classifies norms as "distinctive attitudinal and behavioral characteristics that differentiate this generation from their baby-boom parents and other generations". Basically meaning that there are 8 specific things that majorly differ from the way things were during, say when our parents were younger. The 8 norms he listed are: 1.freedom 2.customization 3.scrutiny 4. integrity 5.collaboration 6. entertainment 7. speed and 8. innovation. When Tapscott was talking about freedom, he used an example of how when he graduated from college, the people his age were very grateful for their first job and were scared to lose it. Nowadays, kids may have had 2 or 3 or even 4 jobs by their senior year. They aren't afraid to leave their job if they find something bigger and better. Customization is something that our generation is always doing. We see something we like, and want to make it better so we customize it to our needs. People have music holding devices like Ipods and can "jailbreak" them and get all these special features. But it's not just that, it's everything from our cellphones to the radios in our cars. For scrutiny he used an example of an e-mail prank, and we've all gotten something like that. With the endless amount of information we get through the internet, tv, magazines, etc. we can decipher fact from fiction. Older generations have trouble with this. For them, what they saw or heard was what it was, but nowadays that is not the case. For integrity, many people think our generation has none but i beg to differ. There are many different examples, but one being children with disabilities are accepted more. As Tapscott said about someone with tourette syndrome, they would not even have been seen in a classroom. Collaboration is also really common. In online games, chatrooms, conference calls, you name it. Entertainment is one of the most important things for Net Geners. Work doesn't have to be boring, we know that, the employers know that. Therefore more effort will be put forth if work is fun. Speed. If we get on a electronical device and it doesn't start up in less than a second, something is wrong. I remember using the computer when i was very young and having to wait for the dial up to connect. That is not acceptable in this day and age and we expect everything to load quickly or else we get frustrated. As for innovation, that is common as well. As we all know, Apple came out with the Ipad not too long ago. Today while watching the news, i saw that the Ipad2 is coming out. How frustrating to the people who are trying to catch up and buy the first generation, and now a new better one is coming out. That goes for everything, cars, gaming devices, laptops, tv's, cellphones, basically anything you can think of.