tools for cultural production

The tools for cultural production and distribution are in the pockets of 14 year olds.

[...]

Which kind of population seems more likely to become actively engaged in civic affairs — a population of passive consumers, sitting slackjawed in their darkened rooms, soaking in mass-manufactured culture that is broadcast by a few to an audience of many, or a world of creators who might be misinformed or ill-intentioned, but in any case are actively engaged in producing as well as consuming cultural products?

-- Howard Rheingold, The tools of cultural production are in the hands of teens, in his answer to the Edge World Question Center 2007 question, What Are You Optimistic About?