No one has failed to notice that the current generation of youth is deeply—some would say totally—involved with digital media. Professors Howard Gardner and Katie Davis name today’s young people The App Generation, and in this spellbinding book they explore what it means to be “app-dependent” versus “app-enabled” and how life for this generation differs from life before the digital era.

Gardner and Davis are concerned with three vital areas of adolescent life: identity, intimacy, and imagination. Through innovative research, including interviews of young people, focus groups of those who work with them, and a unique comparison of youthful artistic productions before and after the digital revolution, the authors uncover the drawbacks of apps: they may foreclose a sense of identity, encourage superficial relations with others, and stunt creative imagination. On the other hand, the benefits of apps are equally striking: they can promote a strong sense of identity, allow deep relationships, and stimulate creativity. The challenge is to venture beyond the ways that apps are designed to be used, Gardner and Davis conclude, and they suggest how the power of apps can be a springboard to greater creativity and higher aspirations.

霍华德·加德纳（Howard Gardner），当今世界最有影响力的发展心理学家和教育学家之一，多元智能理论创始人，被誉为“多元智能理论之父”、“推动美国教育改革的首席科学家”。哈佛大学教育研究生院认知心理学、教育学教授，同时兼任哈佛大学心理学教授，波士顿大学医学院神经学教授，“零点项目”的主持人之一。出版的二十多部专著被翻译成二十多种文字。在中国的教育界，加德纳已经成为家喻户晓的大师。

凯蒂·戴维斯（Katie Davis）是华盛顿大学信息学院的助理教授，研究数字媒体技术对青少年学业、社交和道德生活的影响。

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译言·东西文库

东西文库是译言旗下的出版品牌，致力于“科技文化”的思考、传播与交流。已出版《失控》、《技术元素》、《新经济，新规则》、《数字乌托邦》、《颠覆医疗》、《智能时代》、《有限与无限的游戏》等图书。

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