I don't think it's information overload, I know a number of young men and women (who I don't think of as kids) from this generation who are very wired in who want to learn. I did a very informal study a few months back, sitting around the lunch table with them. Keep in mind, this is at an engineering college. The questions were:

Were you read to?
Did you learn to read prior to kindergarten?
What was your first toy?

The smarter and more imaginative ones, who are reluctant leaders, answered Yes to the first one, across the board. Most said yes to the second one, and the one who didn't has radical dyslexia. And to the third one, everyone said blocks or legos. Even the young ladies.

Unfortunately, the thirty people I asked aren't really big enough to be called a study, but I'd love to do this one with the general public.

I don't think it's the privilage of the information available to them. This complaint has been heard before, at the end of every great Pax. It's the fact that they aren't exploring. Every single one of the people I asked who I would describe as a leader or a doer camps or climbs or hikes or kyaks or any and all of the above.

They have imagination. They all design, rather than copied other peoples work. They want to take the universe apart to see what makes it tick.

They do things the hard way, when they have time, because it's more instructive. Or becuase it's fun.

They also question what they see. They react badly to being lied to, and they try to change things that are wrong.

I'd say that if anything, it's the exact opposite of data saturation. Most kids are spoon fed what they know, and they only know it by rote. The kids just don't care, becuase no one has ever made them care. They never earned what they know and think, they had everything in thier heads handed to them. The young ladies and gentlemen in question don't.

I think if I had to sum up the difference, it's a matter of roles. Do you produce ideas and create the world? Or do you consume and use?