Is There a Digital Generation

Abstract

The title of this book reflects a kind of generational rhetoric that often characterizes discussions of use and impact of so-called new media. Young people are frequently described as a generation----a defined in and through its experience of computer technology. This rhetoric can be found in popular commentary in fields as diverse as commerce, government, education, and youth activism. Thus, electronics company Panasonic is currently advertising its new e.wear MP3 players as providing digital music for a generation; U.S. Department of Commerce speaks about preparing for age of innovation (Mehlman, 2003); educationalist Papert (1996) writes of digital gap between parents and children; and journalist Lasica (2002) seeks to defend young people from what he sees as Hollywood's war against generation. Elsewhere, we encounter the Nintendo generation (Green & Bigum, 1993), the Playstation generation (Blair, 2004), and net generation (Tapscott, 1998), as well as related constructions such as cyberkids (Holloway & Valentine, 2003), bionic children (Bionic Kids, 2003), and even cyborg babies (DavisFloyd & Dumit, 1998). Meanwhile in Japan, there has been considerable discussion of thumb generation-young people who have apparently developed a new dexterity in their thumbs as a result of their use of game consoles and mobile phones (Brooke, 2002).

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