Learning Ecosystems

Tech-savvy ‘iGeneration’ kids multi-task, connect — from USAToday.com by Sharon Jayson

Move over, Millennials. You’re not the younger generation anymore.

For the past decade, you were the ones to watch. But now, as the eldest among you are fast approaching 30, there’s a new group just begging for some attention. They’re still kids, and although there’s a lot the experts don’t yet know about them, one thing they do agree on is that what kids use and expect from their world has changed rapidly.

And it’s all because of technology.

“It’s simply a part of their DNA,” says Dave Verhaagen, a child and adolescent psychologist in Charlotte. “It shapes everything about them.”

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The difference is that these younger kids “don’t remember a time without the constant connectivity to the world that these technologies bring,” she says. “They’re growing up with expectations (emphasis DSC) of always being present in a social way — always being available to peers wherever you are.”

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“The technology is the easiest way to see it, but it’s also a mind-set, and the mind-set goes with the little ‘i,’ which I’m taking to stand for ‘individualized,’ ” Rosen says. “Everything is customized and individualized to ‘me.’ (emphasis DSC) My music choices are customizable to ‘me.’ What I watch on TV any instant is customizable to ‘me.’ “