In other words, kids today can multitask. There is much talk of a change in modern youth – often referred to as digital natives or Homo Zappiens – with respect to their ability to simultaneously process multiple channels of information. This article examines the Net Generation attributes and its relationships to their cyber behaviors especially in learning, entertainment, and social relationships. As Internet is the medium of choice for the Net Geners, a better grasp on how the characteristics of this cohort are linked to their Internet behavior would help marketers and designers to effectively use the medium.

Net Geners are more numerous, more affluent, better educated, and more ethnically diverse than any generation (Howe & Strauss, 2000). Previous research has estimated this group represents 27 percent of the population in the United States (Tapscott, 2009), making it a consumer group potentially larger than the baby boomers. More than any previous generation, they are conversant with a communications revolution transforming business, education, health care, social relations, entertainment, government, and every other institution. Bombarded with information and being media savvy, this generation has grown up understanding the digital economy.

In many ways, this generation feels more comfortable with computers than do their parents, so they are more likely to be online consumers and users of social media. In 2011, they are adolescents and young adults between the ages of 14 and 34. This grown-digital-generation, the group following on the heels of Generation X, is being called the Net Generation. The new digital media are at the heart of a culture and a grown-digital-generation who, in profound and fundamental ways, learn, work, play, communicate, shop, and create communities very differently than their parents (Livingstone, 2002 Tapscott, 1998, 2009).

Nicholas carr the shadows