Thoughts on the Digital Native

First, I watched the slide presentation on Prensky and his description of the "digital native" versus the "digital immigrant".  

It made sense.  Although most of the points that were made were pretty broad generalizations, I could get on board with it.

I myself would fall somewhere in between "native" and "immigrant" status, but I have had a lot of experience interacting with both sides of the spectrum and a lot of the differences that Prensky pointed out between the two generations rang true.  

My dad, for example, prints out every single email that has even an ounce of importance to him.  He is a culprit of using nouns instead of verbs such as, "I sent your friend a request on the facebook." as opposed to, "I friended you". He is absolutely a believer that "real life" does not exist online.

My 9 year old step-daughter on the other hand, approaches life very differently.  Everything that she does is on her Chromebook or her iPad.  She operates at twitch speed and she is used to parallel processing as she quickly switches back and forth from her roblox account, to Tik Tok, to FaceTime with her friends.  

Then I read Danah Boyd's chapter entitled, "are today's youths digital natives?" and I immediately realized how problematic Prensky's way of thinking could potentially be.  

Boyd makes a few stand-out counter arguments right off the bat.  

1. "Just because teens are deeply engaged with technology does not mean that they inherently have the knowledge or skills to make the most of their online experiences."

Boyd references the number of students she came across who could maneuver seemingly effortlessly around facebook, but had difficulty with a google search.  

The number one thing to consider here is digital inequality.  "Teens' technological skills are strongly correlated with the quality of their access." And socio economics plays an enormous role in determining which kids have quality access and those who do not.  

Boyd also makes the point that navigating ones way through the internet is exponentially easier today than it was when it first emerged.  That being said, "when technologies are designed to make everyday use as easy as possible, it is not necessary for users to learn the technological skills that early internet adoption required."

2. "Youth need opportunities to develop the skills and knowledge to engage effectively and meaningfully."

The term "digital native" can easily mislead adults who are educators into believing that their students know all that they need to know in regards to technology because they were born into it.

In reality, media literacy is not innate knowledge. There are countless sources flooding the internet with information, a lot of it completely false or entirely biased, and there are too few intermediaries controlling the flow of information. In order for youth to be effective and responsible technology users they must be taught how to, "ask questions about the construction and dissemination of media.  What biases are embedded in the artifact? How did the creator intend for an audience to interpret the artifact? What are the consequences of that interpretation?" 

Boyd found that many of the students she spoke with honestly believed that if they found information on google, it had to be true.  

That's scary.  

She feels, and I agree, that teachers are doing a disservice to their students by limiting their access to inaccurate or problematic information.  Instead, these types of sites should be presented to students in order for them to scrutinize the source and learn to think critically about what they are reading on the internet.  

3. There is an inherent cultural problem and implied connotation when using the terms "native" versus "immigrant"

aside from the obvious problematic nature, one must also consider that historically immigrants who took over land from natives also destroyed their communal knowledge and ways of life.  So it begs to ask the question: in Prensky's world of digital natives, "do people intend to recognize native knowledge as valuable? Or as something that needs to be restricted or controlled?