It’s not me, it’s you.

I know this isn’t the first time I’ve discussed digital natives on this blog, but it’s the topic this week for class.

A lot of people have written up on digital natives versus digital immigrants, but it was author Marc Prensky who coined the term in his essay Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants (2001). To put it simply, digital natives have always had the new technology (read: cell phones, video games, digital music, computers- you get the idea) while digital immigrants have come into these things later on in life and have had to learn it above and beyond the old ways they had of doing things.

The Mighty Car Phone

Whenever I’ve had to identify myself as one or the other, I’ve always swayed the way of the digital native, though I think I’ve come from a pretty neat little crux- where I got to experience life with both, having come into the world (early 80’s!) during the information age.  I remember when my Dad got his first car phone, and when we trashed our beta machine and record player, and got our first video camera and CD player.  I got to be around when people only bought products made of atoms (tangible items) to now, where many products are mere bits of information.  This makes me wonder though- am I a TRUE digital native?  I’m not like my pal Clover- who surfs the web with ease at age 4, but if I was given the web at her age, there’d be no doubt that I’d be on it.

I think if I were in the category of “digital immigrant” I’d be kind of resentful of the term.  You can’t choose when you’re born, but you can choose your attitude to new developments in technology.  In this article (Wikipedia: Digital Natives), this struck me as a good thing to think about when discussing digital natives.

Eager Adopter?

As Dr. Ofer Zur and Azzia Zur discuss (2009), not all digital immigrants are technologically inept;they fall into the categories of Avoiders, Reluctant Adopters and Eager Adopters. Avoiders may only have a land line, and no email account. Reluctant Adopters see that technology is necessary to their lives, but they don’t have a knack for it and often don’t like it. Eager Adopters have enthusiasm and (sometimes) talent for technology that puts them close to on par with Digital Natives. Baby Boomers who are thriving online are Eager Adopters.

My pals Rob and Ted would be considered digital immigrants (I hope they don’t think I’m calling them old!) but they’re more with it, and into technology than many of my digital native friends.  They’re the ones telling me about new things, and not the other way around.

Which just goes to show it is all in the attitude. If I ever find myself scared of technology, or reluctant to learn something new, then I know I’m done for.  I can’t imagine a life like that- but there are nursing homes full of these people!  Imagine being a senior that’s an eager adopter of technology, having to deal with all these fuddy duddy peers!

Oh mercy.

One other thing I think about (while we’re on the topic), is children in third world countries. While they could be considered digital natives due to the time they were born- their approach to technology once they finally encounter it would likely be how a digital immigrant would approach it.  That’s one thing I’d like to look further into, and one thing that I could probably write a whole essay on.

In Prensky’s article, he states that today’s students are no longer the people the education system was designed to teach (he also has a new book coming out about it!) and believes that the brains of digital natives may be differently structured (though he doesn’t cite how in his essay- so I hope he explains it in the new book!) He states that digital natives like to get their information really fast, they digitally multitask, and love instant gratification and frequent rewards (there are people that don’t?!)

Instant Gratification: Kittens on a Slide!

At any rate, Prensky summarizes that digital immigrants present information in a very boring way that the digital natives are just not into, and that with a little imagination this could be remedied.  (This is a huge part of why I do what I do.)  He encourages instructors- even those of the direst subject matter to think outside the box to apply digital native methodologies to all subjects.

Uhhh… obviously!

I’m wishing this article had come out in grade 7 and I could have given it to my teacher and been like, “listennn… it’s not me. It’s you.”

I would have gotten suspended, but I would have done it anyhow- and it also makes me wonder if much of the rise in attention deficit diagnoses in children could be because of the digital native/immigrant disconnect (I’m sure I could write another paper on this as well!)

Like any good chef will tell you, it’s all in the presentation.  If kids can remember the entire discography of Justin Bieber they should also have the cognitive capacity to recount all the countries in Africa, but unless this info is meaningfully rehearsed and has some semblance of importance to these kids- it won’t be remembered.

Was this not the case for digital immigrants?

The raison d’etre for us as educators via technology is to present information in a way that it can be meaningfully processed and matter to the kids consuming it.  Papers on digital natives and digital immigrants aside- it really is that simple.