Kids labeled 'generation next' before they grow up

CHICAGO — They aren't even out of grade school. But already, people are trying to name the youngest up-and-coming generation, and figure out who they might be and how they might be different from their predecessors.

At a loss for something more original, many call them Generation Z, because they follow Generations X and Y.

They've also been referred to as Generation Net or "iGen," since they've never known a world without the Internet.

That's the one point most everyone can agree on — that they are the tech-savviest generation of all time, so much so that even toddlers can maneuver their way through YouTube and some first-graders are able to put together a PowerPoint presentation for class.

But beyond that, who are they, really?

Most people agree it's just too early to know for sure. But that hasn't stopped marketers from trying to figure out this young crowd of consumers. Or employers from attempting to prepare for them in the workplace.

Parents, too — many of them Gen Xers — are weighing in, saying they are raising a different brand of kid than baby boomers did.

"I would like to think that ideally, and this might be a bit naive, Gen Xers are a bit more freethinking and not necessarily as compelled to keep up with the Joneses," says Kris Sonnenberg, a teacher in Chicago and 38-year-old mother of three children, ages 8, 12 and 17.

Many parents also think the recession will play a role in shaping who their kids are, and perhaps make them less "entitled," a label that — fair or not — has been slapped frequently on Generation Y, also known as the "millennials."

"We're not afraid to say money's tight, so I feel like our kids are going to have that sense long-term," says Andrew Egbert, a 41-year-old dad who works in manufacturing in Greensboro, N.C. He has a son in fifth grade and a daughter who's a first-grader.

OK, so, let's take a look at the picture that's emerging of Gen Z, for what it's worth. They're young — roughly age 12 or younger.

Generational expert Neil Howe says determining who these youngsters are still is very much a work in progress.

"But there are hints from history," he says.

Howe, who coined the term "millennials," says 2008 may turn out to be one year with a big influence on this generation, due to both the recession and the election of the nation's first black president.