PewInternet.org

Networked and HyperconnectedThe New Social (and work) Operating System

National Conference of State LegislatorsOctober 11, 2012Lee Rainie: Director, Pew Internet ProjectEmail: Lrainie@pewinternet.org

2

“Tweckle (twek’ul) vt. To abuse a speaker to

Twitter followers in the audience while he/she is

speaking.”

3

4

we need a tshirt, "I survived the keynote disaster of 09"

it's awesome in the "I don't want to turn away from the accident because I might

see a severed head" way

too bad they took my utensils away w/ my plate. I could have jammed the butter knife

into my temple.

How will hyperconnected Millennials live?http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2012/Hyperconnected-lives.aspx

Vote for …

Millennials’ future

• In 2020 the brains of multitasking teens and young adults are "wired" differently from those over age 35 and overall it yields helpful results. They do not suffer notable cognitive shortcomings as they multitask and cycle quickly through personal- and work-related tasks. Rather, they are learning more and they are more adept at finding answers to deep questions, in part because they can search effectively and access collective intelligence via the Internet. In sum, the changes in learning behavior and cognition among the young generally produce positive outcomes.

… or …

Millennials’ future

• In 2020, the brains of multitasking teens and young adults are "wired" differently from those over age 35 and overall it yields baleful results. They do not retain information; they spend most of their energy sharing short social messages, being entertained, and being distracted away from deep engagement with people and knowledge. They lack deep-thinking capabilities; they lack face-to-face social skills; they depend in unhealthy ways on the Internet and mobile devices to function. In sum, the changes in behavior and cognition among the young are generally negative outcomes.

Millennials’ future

Change for the better

52%Change for the worse

42%

Theme - Supertaskers

Theme – New winners/losers

Theme – Distracted

Theme – New brains

The three revolutions that

got us here

Digital Revolution 1: BroadbandInternet (85%) and Broadband at home (66%)

Networked creators and curators among internet users

• 69% are social networking site users• 59% share photos and videos• 37% contribute rankings and ratings• 33% create content tags • 30% share personal creations • 26% post comments on sites and blogs• 15% have personal website• 15% are content remixers • 16% use Twitter • 14% are bloggers• … of smartphone owners, 18% share their locations;

74% get location info and do location sharing

Revolution 2: Mobile – 89% of adults

331.6

Total U.S. population:315.5 million

2011

Apps > 50% of adults

Digital Revolution 3Social networking – 59% of all adults

% of internet users

Impact on knowledge workers and their constituents

The world is full of networked individuals using (lots of) networked information

Impact on knowledge workers and their constituents

There is an imperative to share and be “on the grid”

Impact on knowledge workers and their constituents

Attention is reallocated

Impact on knowledge workers and their constituents

A “fifth estate” of civic and community actors arises (including citizen “vigilantes”)

Real-time info, just-in-time searches change the process of acquiring and using information … be ready for your closeup

Impact on knowledge workers and their constituents

Impact on knowledge workers and their constituents

Influence is migrating from organizations to networks and new “experts”

Impact on knowledge workers and their constituents

All organizations are under more scrutiny … transparency is a new marker of trust

Closing thoughts from the report on the hyperconnected

• Amber Case, cyberanthropologist, CEO of Geoloqi“Today and in the future, it will not be as important to

internalize information but to elastically be able to take multiple sources of information in, synthesize them, and make rapid decisions. Memories are becoming hyperlinks to information triggered by keywords and URLs. We are becoming ‘persistent paleontologists’ of our own external memories, as our brains are storing the keywords to get back to those memories and not the full memories themselves.”

• Tiffany Shlain, director of the film Connected“The key will be valuing when to be present and

when to unplug. The core of what makes us human is to connect deeply, so this always will be valued. Just as we lost oral tradition with the written word, we will lose something big [in this change], but we will gain a new way of thinking. As Sophocles once said, ‘Nothing vast enters the life of mortals without a curse.’”

Closing thoughts from the report on the hyperconnected

Thank you!