Educators, authors, and researchers have used a variety of terms to name this generation. In fact, it has become a rather contentious issue. The book titles alone reveal this variation, for example, Millennials, Generation Y, Trophy Kids, Net Generation, and Digital Natives, to cite just a few. This has produced considerable confusion among faculty and administrators and much debate over the most appropriate label. Here are nine proposed names or monikers and brief rationales:
1. Millennials: for the high school graduating class of 2000 as they entered the new millennium.
2. Generation Y: derived simply from the succession of one generation to the next—the demographic cohort following Gen Xers.
3. Echo Boomers: the Baby Boom has an echo and it’s even louder than the original; the offspring of the Boomers.
4. Net Generation: linked directly to the (Inter)net and the emerging digital technology of the 1990s with which this generation grew up.
5. Trophy Generation (or Trophy Kids): derived from competitive sports and the practice where no one loses and everyone receives a “trophy” (actually a certificate) for participating.
6. First Digitals: associated with the Digital Revolution during the 1990s; this generation is the first to grow up immersed in everything digital.
7. Digital Aboriginals: the aborigines’ view of the world that all things are connected; this generation’s behaviors are analyzed from an anthropological perspective.
8. Nexters: might be considered a slang version of Next Generation.
9. Digital Natives: “digital” is their native language; they are “native speakers” of the language of computers, video games, and the Internet and have spent their entire lives surrounded by computers, cell phones, and all the gadgetry of the digital age.
After this review of names, the one name that seems the simplest, most descriptive, least controversial, and easily understood, and reflects the profound influence of the Internet on these students’ lives is: Net Generation or Net Geners. I will use that term in future blogs.
COPYRIGHT © 2009 Ronald A. Berk, LLC
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