Advance Praise

“Why does Facebook have the same appeal as gated communities? Is distraction more concerning than addiction? How do videogames like World of Warcraft value friendship? Bracing yet reassuring, often surprising, and always substantive, Craig Watkins acts as an honest broker, testing the contradictory claims often made about young people’s digital lives against sophisticated field work.”
–Henry Jenkins, author of Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide

“Amidst the sensational headlines about internet addiction, ’sexting,’ and how social networking is destroying young attention spans, The Young and the Digital is a breath of fresh air. Watkins shows how young people are really using technology including the good, the not so good and the many shades of gray in between. A must read for parents and educators!”
-Anastasia Goodstein, author of Totally Wired: What Teens And Tweens Are Really Doing Online

“The Young and the Digital is the best and most nuanced report yet from the digital frontier. Watkins tells us not only what is happening with today’s ‘digital natives,’ but what it all means and where it may be taking us as a society.”
– James Paul Gee, Mary Lou Fulton Presidential Professor of Literacy Studies at Arizona State University and author of What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy

“New communication technologies are usually one step ahead of our ability to understand their social and political implications. By using a mix of methods, Craig Watkins convincingly captures the digital world inhabited by today’s young adults while illustrating what the digital landscape means for our future.”
-Michael X. Delli Carpini, Dean, Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania

“With thorough research, deep thinking, and lively prose, Watkins adds enormously to our understanding of how the combination of new media and a new generation is changing the world. Read this refreshing book to understand our future!”
- Don Tapscott, co-author of Wikinomics and author of Grown Up Digital