En début de semaine, le journaliste Jean-François Ferland de Direction Informatique [2]me téléphone pour me demander comment la venue de la génération Net sur le marché du travail, risque de perturber les habitudes des entreprises (son article devrait paraître plus tard cette semaine). Depuis, deux contenus me sont apparus, qui confirment ce que je disais à monsieur Ferland.
Tout d’abord, sur le nouveau site (exceptionnel) Medialinks [3], sous l’onglet du copain Philippe Martin, je prends connaissance du document Is surfing the Internet altering your brain? [4] On y apprend que le cerveau des jeunes de la génération Net, se développe différemment du reste de la population et que leur exposition au Web les rends plus apte à absorber des tonnes d’informations et à prendre des décisions rapides.
Gary Small, a neuroscientist at UCLA in California who specializes in brain function, has found through studies that Internet searching and text messaging has made brains more adept at filtering information and making snap decisions.
But while technology can accelerate learning and boost creativity it can have drawbacks as it can create Internet addicts whose only friends are virtual and has sparked a dramatic rise in Attention Deficit Disorder diagnoses.
Small, however, argues that the people who will come out on top in the next generation will be those with a mixture of technological and social skills.
“We’re seeing an evolutionary change. The people in the next generation who are really going to have the edge are the ones who master the technological skills and also face-to-face skills,” Small told Reuters in a telephone interview.
“They will know when the best response to an email or Instant Message is to talk rather than sit and continue to email.”
Puis, sur le blogue Onedegree, l’auteur fait des observations sur cette génération [5]qui sont somme toute semblables à celles qu’a déjà faites Tapscot [6].
So, what are my conclusions about this small, albeit select, sampling of this generation?
• They are empowered. They don’t stand in lines for information at the library because the library comes to them. They don’t believe what you tell them just because you are at the front of the class because they can look up 10 counter-opinions before you are even done talking. And they don’t have the patience for a “you talk and we listen” mentality because they have access to more methods of “always on” communication than you can count.
• They are informed. Because information isn’t trapped by location, language, time of day or publication costs. They have access to everything, now. The toughest thing this generation will have to learn (or more likely, to solve) is how to sort the crap from the good stuff quickly.
• They are fast. And I mean “fast”. They can get anything, anytime, fast, and they know it. They have information and communication networks that are always on and always serving. What I wouldn’t have given for a 24 hour library the night before my papers were due and access to 20 other papers on the exact same topic plus video clips of the author of the book discussing its nuanced conclusions.
• They will call bullshit faster than you are finished speaking. They will because they can. They understand that information is power and they have access to it. And they get that you can’t tell them to be quiet because they can scream in 40 ways that you just can’t hear. Our job as marketers is not to sell to this generation but to recruit them. And you can start by recognizing how they learn and communicate. Speak to them as equals, in a truthful way that they can validate and, if you are lucky, that they can share widely and quickly with their network.