The LINKSTERS are here! What will motivate them?

We have a name for Gen Z - Linksters! I like it. It's trendy and truly representative of the generation. Anyone born after 2002 is a Linkster.

Credit to Meagan Johnson, a generational expert, speaker and author of From Boomers to Linksters: Managing the Friction Between Generations at Work for coining the term.

A key determining characteristic is that this generation was born in an all-pervasive connected and digital world. Not a tag all Millenials can lay claim to.

Around 2002, Smartphones were starting to become common household names world over, the Internet had proliferated and social networking was the new norm. It changed the world forever! It re-shaped ways in which people engaged with each other. There are downsides as well. This combination of social networking, smartphone and powerful internet bandwidth led to the 'Phubbing' phenomenon. For the uninitiated Phubbing, is a word used to describe the habit of snubbing someone in favor of a mobile phone.

It's a little-known fact that Friendster, launched in 2002, preceded Facebook as the first social networking site. Several social networking sites emerged since then, some failed and few succeeded. By 2007, when the first Linkster was starting early education, the iPhone had released and Facebook had outperformed all its competition to hit 400 Mn users. Nearly ten years later Tweets were moving faster than earthquakes and during the 2012 Super Bowl, Twitter was generating 12,233 tweets per second. You get the drift. Check out this infographic.

As the first lot enters high school, I am intrigued by one question - What will motivate this generation? Wealth, instant gratification, social justice, exploring new worlds (read Mars) or maybe a better planet. My guess is as good as yours.

I have come across several instances of a particular radical experiment (read 'disturbing' for me) - paying kids to attend school or rather just showing up. Several countries have implemented this experiment at some scale (click on the links to read more) - Sweden, France, US, UK, and India.

In the report, A Matter of Degrees: The Effect of Educational Attainment on Regional Economic Prosperity, the Milken Institute concluded that Education increases regional prosperity. Adding one year to the average years of schooling among the employed in a metropolitan area is associated with an increase of real GDP per capita of more than 10 percent and an increase in real wages per worker of more than 8 percent. Add one year of college to a region's workforce, for instance, and GDP per capita jumps 17.4 percent.

There are several arguments for and against it. The economist in me supports the argument but the parent vehemently disagrees with the concept. I'd love to hear what you have to say about this.

For those wondering about the choice of the 'lollipop' (pun intended) image for this article. Well, in full disclosure, I am Gen X and my girls are Linksters. As toddlers, they liked this rainbow swirl lollipop. It kind of brought a smile on their face. This image popped into my head and it associates well with the topic. No offense to the grown up Linkster celebrating their 15th birthday!