Let me count the generations.

Given enough time, and enough people who'd like to get fifteen minutes of fame by coining a short-lived term, I suppose that we could rather easily go through the entire alphabet with each letter getting its chance to personify an internet generation. I'm sure there are more, but only a brief search has turned up:

generation X
generation Y
generation Z
generation M
generation D
generation i

Generations, of course, overlap each other, primarily because they define overlapping periods of time. A particular cultural generation, for instance, may only partially intersect with a particular political generation. And not all of the generations listed here are specifically internet-defined generations, generations for whom the internet, or digitality, have become central, distinguishing, characteristics. Generation D, for instance, is supposedly the digital generation (though that doesn't mean that in Prensky's terms, they're natives). Generation X is usually defined as the generation that came after the baby boomers, while Generation Y, I suppose by default, gets to be the generation after Generation X. Generation M isn't necessarily an internet generation - the M ordinarily refers to millennial. And of course there's also the MTV generation and the Net Generation. It's no surprise that numerous references can be found to the Net Generation, but even with the speed of generational turnover making generations so incredibly short-lived, it's hard not to be impressed with the fact that the MySpace Generation and the Wii Generation have also arrived on the scene. A number of lengthy Wikipedia articles that cross reference each other but don't necessarily agree on the proper demarcation points of these various generations might be a good starting point for someone who wants to make sense out of all this. Either that, or simply a way to add to his or her confusion. In the article on Generation Y we learn that

These people therefore typically argue that some year in the late 1990s, such as 1997, would be the most appropriate ending year for the Generation Y and starting year for the as yet unnamed "Generation Z," or "New Silent Generation."

It was probably unavoidable that a generation that is "as yet unnamed" has already received not one, but two names.

As early as 1999 Microsoft gave the name Generation i to what it also called The Internet Generation. As part of a series of essays on issues of Science and Technology we were told that

Generation i will be the first generation to grow up with the Internet as a constant presence in their lives. How effectively we enable that experience will influence the future of our society for many generations to come.

Just why Microsoft used a small i to designate that generation is unclear, though perhaps it was a sign of corporate prescience. Since then, the term has also been used to denote the iPod generation. Perhaps Microsoft forgot about that article. If they were to remember it, they might be able to sue for copyright infringement.

Go to: Can we ever feel at home?, or
Go to: Carrying cognitive baggage from the old country