The document discusses how networked and hyperconnected technologies are changing how people, especially younger generations, live and work. It notes that teens and young adults have brains wired differently than older people due to extensive multitasking. While some argue this could negatively impact cognition, others believe it is yielding positive results by allowing people to learn more and access collective knowledge online. The document also examines how the digital, mobile and social media revolutions have impacted knowledge workers by increasing transparency, real-time information sharing, and influence of networks and new online experts.

1. Networked and Hyperconnected
The New Social (and work) Operating System
National Conference of State Legislators
October 11, 2012
Lee Rainie: Director, Pew Internet Project
Email: Lrainie@pewinternet.org
PewInternet.org

2. “Tweckle (twek’ul) vt. To
abuse a speaker to Twitter
followers in the audience
while he/she is speaking.”
2

3. 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.
4

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

6. Vote for …

7. 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.

8. … or …

9. 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.

10. Millennials’ future
Change for the better Change for the worse
52% 42%

11. Theme - Supertaskers

12. Theme – New winners/losers

13. Theme – Distracted

14. Theme – New brains

15. The three
revolutions that
got us here

16. Digital Revolution 1: Broadband
Internet (85%) and Broadband at home (66%)

17. 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

18. Revolution 2: Mobile – 89% of adults
331.6
Total U.S.
population:
315.5 million
2011

19. Apps > 50% of adults
50%
% of cell owners who have 43%
40% downloaded apps 38%
30%
29%
22%
20%
10%
0%
Sept 2009 May 2010 August 2011 April 2012

20. Digital Revolution 3
Social networking – 59% of all adults
18-29 30-49 50-64 65+
100%
86% 92%
% of internet users
76% 87%
80%
67%
68% 73%
60%
61%
49% 48% 49% 57%
40%
47%
25% 29%
25% 38%
20% 26%
9% 8% 11%
7% 4% 13%
6% 7%
0%
2005 2006
1% 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

21. Impact on knowledge workers and
their constituents
The world is full of
networked
individuals using
(lots of)
networked
information

22. Impact on knowledge workers and
their constituents
There is an
imperative to
share and be
“on the grid”

23. Impact on knowledge workers and
their constituents
Attention is
reallocated

24. Impact on knowledge workers and
their constituents
A “fifth estate” of
civic and
community actors
arises (including
citizen “vigilantes”)

25. Impact on knowledge workers and their
constituents
Real-time info, just-
in-time searches
change the process
of acquiring and
using information
… be ready for your
closeup

26. Impact on knowledge workers and
their constituents
Influence is
migrating from
organizations
to networks
and new
“experts”

27. Impact on knowledge workers and their
constituents
All organizations
are under
more scrutiny
… transparency
is a new
marker of trust

28. 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.”

29. Closing thoughts from the report
on the hyperconnected
• 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.’”

30. Thank you!