Net Generation as the "Occupant" Generation

 In 2005, Diana Oblinger and James Oblinger first defined what they call the “Net Generation”—a generation born in or after 1982 who have lived their entire lives in the era of the Internet.  If Baby Boomers were defined by television and Generation X by video gaming, the Net Generation is defined by the Web and online communities. 

They are, in effect, the emerging American society.

This month, as the Occupy Wall Street phenomenon morphed from a localized protest in New York to a global movement, it became clear that the Net Generation is also the “Occupant” Generation.   They were born at the beginning of the Reagan Revolution and have lived all their lives in an era where one’s identity in the broader society as “citizen” has been replaced by “consumer.”  They are the increasingly disenfranchised victims of a corporate plutocracy that has reamed out the core of our culture and, one might expect, left little for this generation to strive for—except for righting the wrongs that have been done to their society. 

And, perhaps, creating a very different society in the vacuum that the financial 1 percenters have left in the wake of their greed.

In Educating the Net Generation (EDUCAUSE 2005, available at www.educause.edu/educatingthenetgen/ ) the Oblingers reported several unifying characteristics that Howe and Strauss described of this generation, which has also been called the Millennial Generation:

·      They tend to gravitate toward group activity.

·      They believe that “it’s cool to be smart” and focus on academic performance.

·      They get involved in extracurricular activities.

·      They are close to their parents and identify with their parents’ values.

·      They tend to respect social conventions and institutions.

·      They are fascinated by new technologies.

·      They are racially and ethnically diverse.

They also noted that, while this generation is very mobile, it is also always connected and most are experiential learners—they prefer learning by doing, an exploratory style that, note the Oblingers, “enables them to better retain information and use it in creative, meaningful ways.”  Some other preferences:

·      They prefer to work in teams.

·      They prefer structure to ambiguity.

·      They are oriented toward inductive discovery or observation, formulating hypotheses, and figuring out rules.

·      They crave interactivity.

·      They eagerly participate in community activity.

·      They believe they can make a difference.

The same characteristics that made this a unique generation of learners may also serve to help them confront imbalance between the people, through our government, and increasingly international corporate forces.  The challenge is to create a new balance in society between corporations and our government.  In many ways the task before them is much more difficult than what the Baby Boomers faced in the 1960s.  Then, we still lived in a mixed economy in which there was agreement that government should respond to society’s needs and protect people from the excesses of the private economy.  Today, the government, while still a potential ally, is weakened by a generation of deregulation.  The Net Generation, with its willingness to engage as a community—to be more than consumers—can overcome the current ambiguity about the role of government and create a society that will truly make a difference.

The Occupy movement is an important step toward that goal.