That’s basically the question the Chronicle of Higher Education tries to answer in “The Net Generation Goes to College,” an article by Scott Carlson published this week.
Presenting arguments from both schools of thought, the article brushes a very good picture of the new problematic in colleges faced with the Net Generation, this new breed of multi-tasking students and their high-tech alter egos (mobile phones, laptops, iPods, etc.), also seen by some as the ADD generation:
“Stefannie A. Miller, a 21-year-old senior at Case Western Reserve University, fits squarely within the Millennial generation. Some of the assumptions about her generation ring true, she says. […]
But she bristles at other assumptions — both good and bad — that people make about her and her peers.
“We’re looked at as the attention-deficit-disorder generation,” she says. “If you don’t have some pretty pictures or some interesting digital format, we won’t pay attention.” But such technology is a “hook” for people who aren’t going to study anyway, she says.”
The article is definitely a good read.
Find out what others think about this topic by reading the transcript of the online live chat with Richard T. Sweeney, university librarian at the New Jersey Institute of Technology.
