Playing the Future: What We Can Learn from Digital Kids

And Douglas Rushkoff here supplies both in abundance. His argument: contemporary "screenagers," as he calls them, aren't being warped by new technologies, they're adapting to them. Their relationship to play, work, spirituality, and politics all reflect the contours of a new world shaped by the liberating logic of digital networks and chaos theory. It's a better world, Rushkoff assures us, and if the grownups know what's good for them, they will stop looking askance at the ways of digital youth and start trying to learn from them instead.

Ultimately, Rushkoff seems a lot more interested in making his argument than in making it stick. He flies from one loose logical connection to another--the secret link between fractal math and snowboarding, the parallel between Web browser interfaces and Federal Reserve notes--and he alternates between near-brilliance and utter implausibility as he goes.

But even nowadays, when the heated rhetoric that met the first wave of digital culture is generally giving way to more nuanced analysis, there's something contagious about Rushkoff's passionate faith that the kids are all right. He may not convince you, but after this intellectual joy ride is over, that may not matter. Like any good child of the '90s, you'll want to believe. --Julian Dibbell

Product Description
A provocative look at how kids' culture can give us the tools for survival in the increasingly complex 21st century.

Do "The Simpsons" represent a leap forward in media consciousness? Do Sega video games and channel-surfing offer new strategies for coping in a world fraught with unpredictability? Can raves, snowboarding, or online chatting teach us something about adapting to cultural change? Douglas Rushkoff, "one of the great thinkers and writers of our time" (Timothy Leary) says yes, yes, and yes.

* Revised and updated with a new introduction by the author
* Hailed as "the brilliant heir to Marshall McLuhan" (New Perspectives Quarterly).
* Rushkoff has been a consultant to Fortune 500 companies on the new media: "When Douglas Rushkoff speaks, TV executives and programmers listen--and pay him well to explain how to reach young viewers."--New York Times
* Rushkoff's articles on pop culture, media, and technology have appeared in Esquire, Details, GQ, Paper, Wired, and Time
* Rushkoff has written a regular weekly column for The New York Times Syndicate, and currently writes regularly for The London Guardian and The Australian
* Rushkoff has appeared on CNN, "Larry King Live," "Frontline," "Bill Moyers," BBC News, CNBC, MSNBC, FOX, CBC, NPR, "NBC Nightly News," WOR, KQED, and dozens of other television and radio programs

"An exuberant progressive, [Rushkoff] contends that kids today, who were weaned on Macintosh and MTV, have developed adaptive strategies to live in a mediasphere in which CNN seems less real than Pulp Fiction....Rushkoff gently nudges us to loosen up and celebrate the pace of change in which our kids have learned to thrive...it's hard to argue with his contention that a hearty dose of the Net would give us a fighting chance of learning about the future that our children already know." --San Francisco Chronicle

"Makes dazzling links between chaos theory and Rodney King, snowboarding and William Gibson, rave culture and Star Wars...the literary equivalent of U2's Zoo TV."--Vox

Whoa! What a surprise! I started underlining on the second page-of the introduction!

This book delivers a fascinating look at youth culture and relates that culture-and its implications-to our future. It's an enjoyable read, exploring a wide range of aspects of the culture of today's youth, our future employees and leaders. I gained a great deal of insight into the Millennial Generation, and I've been studying them for a while myself.

Every once in a while, I shook my head in bewilderment or struggled to get a connection, but that was seldom. As I moved from page to page, I had a recurring urge to discuss parts with my 14-year old step-daughter. Her response to my amazement and learning would probably be something like, "Duh. Don't you know this? Don't you get it?" Don't get me wrong; Samantha is not like all the different types of kids described in the book. But, she fits where she wants to fit in the picture . . . which is part of the picture.

The author is himself a card-carrying member of Generation X. This perspective is manifested in his writing, both in style and language and topic. I felt like I was getting a private interview to gain a deeper understanding of the teens and twenty-somethings. While I won't admit to being comfortable with all that I read, I do confess to having learned something. Actually, a lot of somethings. Now with a greater appreciation of today's youth, their culture, and their perspective on the future, I feel more secure in what will come in the years ahead.

Screenagers, Rushkoff's moniker for the generation he presents to us, is a valid and worthwhile study. Page after page delivers food for thought and consideration. Are you ready for the future? To know the future? We're surrounded by the future-and its movers and shakers-today. Better get to know these folks, how they think, what they expect, and where they're going.

Now that I've written my review, I'll give the book to my 14-year old, already a voracious reader. I wonder what she'll have to say about this evaluation and study of her generation. My guess is that she'll agree. . . and then go on to tell me more. What an intriguing discussion this will be . . . .


In pure Rushkoff fashion... This book is fantastic   July 18, 2000
Daniel Zuccarelli (Mount Laurel, New Jersey USA)
1 out of 4 found this review helpful

When it comes to new media, no one does it better than Rushkoff. This book, "Media Virus", and especially "Coercion"... all books shed excellent light on the information age.. and not just the doom and gloom or bubblegum optimism we usually get thrown at us. Rushkoff takes everything apart, explains it all in realistic ways, then puts it all back together for us. Like Coercion, this book should be on the required reading lists of every worthwhile college in the country. I am better prepared to handle the world and my job (computers) for having read this book.