Economists around the world acknowledge rapid movement toward a global, knowledge-oriented economy, although this transformation is labeled different things such as “information society,” “global economy,” and the “new economy.” Although they do not agree on projections for the speed of this transition, policy decision makers in numerous countries have adopted the rhetoric of the information society and the inevitability of rapid social change. For instance, a UNESCO study group on Learning Without Frontiers released a report on Information and Communications Technology (ICT) (Blurton, 1999), as did the World Bank (1998) Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research. Both reports projected major social changes from the global information economy and both recommended special attention to developing new mechanisms for lifelong learning using information technology.

This chapter analyzes how these global and societal changes have influenced the lives of adolescents and how they are likely to affect them in the future. For contemporary youth, the most immediate consequences of the growing information infrastructure are the technologies that help them interact with friends and family. With personal computers and hand held mobiles, more and different forms of interpersonal communication have become possible. New forms of leisure, shopping, and working also have become possible. Perhaps most noteworthy is the rapid access to new forms and types of knowledge.

All of these new opportunities, made possible by rapidly evolving information technology, are forcing young users of this technology to confront new ethical and legal issues.