I just stumbled across a blog called NetGen Nonsense, dedicated to debunking the "myth" of digital natives - that is, the relationship between the Millennial generation and collaborative technology. As far as I can see, the site posts some useful contrarian research and attempts to refute some of the more mainstream popularizers of the NetGen meme, including Don Tapscott and Strauss and Howe. The authors seem particularly concerned about the implications for education if institutions base curriculum decisions on hype and stereotypes about Millennial learning styles, rather than actual data.

Personally, I find the weight of evidence from studies like the Pew Project on the Internet and American Life, Forrester Research's annual study of generational use of technology, the NetGeneration survey conducted by Reynol Junco and Jeanna Mastrodicasa in 2006, and nGenera's recent NetGen global survey, to point out fairly clearly that there is a strong relationship between the attitudes and behaviors of young people and the distinct quality of the media they consume and participate in.

Needless to say, it's not universal, and skepticism is warranted about the more extravagant claims. Still, if the authors of NetGen Nonsense have a beef with the effectiveness of educational techniques based on Web 2.0, collaborative content, and other technologies associated with NetGen learning styles, they would probably be better served by making that argument, rather than taking issue with the fairly clear trends showing generational differences in technology adoption.