Digital natives

Digital natives

What is a Digital Native?

Digital native is a term coined by Mark Prensky in 2001 used to describe the generation of people who grew up in the era of ubiquitous technology, including computers and the internet. Digital natives are comfortable with technology and computers at an early age and consider technology to be an integral and necessary part of their lives. Many teenagers and children in the first world today are generally considered to be digital natives as they mainly communicate and learn via computers, SNS and texting. The opposite of digital natives is digital immigrants—people who have had to adapt to the new language of technology.

Understanding Digital Natives

The idea of “digital native” came from an article explaining Prensky's opinion on why today’s teachers are having trouble teaching students. Prensky argued that young people today are speaking a digital language whereas teachers are speaking an old accented language (their accent being their reluctance to adopt new technology). He called for a change in the way children are taught so that they may learn in a “language” they understand. It is worth noting that not all children born today are digital natives. Although cheaper mobile technology is making rapid inroads into developing and emerging nations, children in less affluent areas are less exposed to technology than their counterparts in the G8, for example.

It is important to note that Prensky's original paper was not a scientific one and that no empirical data exists to support his claims. He has since abandoned his digital native metaphor in favour of digital wisdom.

Digital natives and digital immigrants — how are they different

Technology made a big change for the new generations. It became a very popular topic for psychologists and sociologists. That resulted in the use of labels such as ‘digital native’, ‘the net generation’, ‘Google generation’ or ‘the millennials’. These highlights are defining the lives of young people at the age of new technologies.

‘Digital natives’ are generally born after the 1980s and they are comfortable in the digital age, because they grew up using technology, but ‘digital immigrants’ are those who are born before 1980s and they are fearful about using technology. ‘Digital immigrants’ are the older crew, they weren’t raised in a digital environment. The term digital immigrant mostly applies to individuals who were born before the spread of digital technology and who were not exposed to it at an early age. Digital natives are the opposite of digital immigrants, they have been interacting with technology from childhood. According to Prensky, digital natives are the generation of young people who are “native speakers” of the digital language of computers, video games, and the Internet.

As I observe the younger generation and the older generation, I see the difference clearly. I frequently find myself interfacing between the newest digital natives and classic digital immigrants.

Millennials were born between the 1980s and 2000s. Those who were born after 2000 are considered Generation Z. In the recent years, researchers observed two generations: those born after the 1980s, and those born after 1993, and the results were that the younger group had more positive attitudes toward the Internet and lower anxiety scores about the Internet and higher web, e-mail, and social media usage. Studies say that digital natives’ brains are more actively engaged while scrolling through a webpage than while reading printed text.

New technologies have been a defining feature in the lives of younger generations in a way that they predict a fundamental change in the way young people communicate, socialize, create and learn. The Internet has reshaped the way we search for information and the way we think.

Digital natives see everyone on an equal level and are not dividing the world into hierarchies, they view the world horizontally. They cross boundaries and embrace the benefits of sharing with each other. Those values exist because of what they are driven by. We can learn a lot about digital native generations because their world is a genuine democracy and equality. They reject centralized and control-based forms of governance. More aggressive, competitive and result-obsessed generation, the advantage is their productivity. The difference between digital natives and digital immigrants is that digital immigrants are goal-oriented and digital natives are value-oriented. Digital natives like to parallel process and multi-task.

Because of interacting with technology, digital natives “think and process information fundamentally differently” (Prensky) to digital immigrants. Digital natives, according to Prensky, process information quickly, enjoy multi-tasking and gaming, while digital immigrants process information slowly, working on one thing at a time and do not appreciate less serious approaches to learning. This divide, Prensky argued, is the greatest problem facing education today and teachers must change the way they teach in order to engage their students. Children raised with the computer think differently. They develop hypertext minds. There is a need for education to change in order to create better generation expectations. Prensky claims the digital native is becoming the dominant global demographic, and the digital immigrant is in decline.

The thing is that digital natives first check their social platforms, not TV. They would rather be engaged than marked to something, they do not care if the content is professionally produced, but that it is authentic and on their level. They develop their culture — IT culture.

Digital immigrants’ groups:

Avoiders: they prefer a relatively minimal technology or technology-free lifestyle. They do not have an email account and/or smartphones and tend to have deadlines. Social media is too much for them and they do not see the value in these activities.

Reluctant adopters: they accept technology and are trying to engage with it, but feel unintuitive and hard to use it. They have a cell phone but do not use texting, occasionally they use Google but do not have a Facebook account but they check their emails and use online banking.

Enthusiastic adopters: they are digital immigrants who have the potential to keep up with natives. They embrace technology and they may be high-tech executives, programmers and business people. This group sees the value of technology, they use Facebook and check emails regularly and technology makes them excited. If they are doing business, they have a website.

Digital natives grouping:

Avoiders: even though they were born in the digital world, some young people do not feel an affinity for digital technologies and Facebook. Mobile technologies do not enamour them. They have cell phones but do not use email and social media accounts.

Minimalists: they use technology minimally and when they perceive it necessary. They search for information on Google if they have to and purchase online if they cannot buy something at a local store. They check their Facebook account once a day or every couple of days.

Enthusiastic participants are most of the digital natives. They enjoy technology and gadgets. They use Facebook all day long and have other social media accounts, watching YouTube and movies online as much as possible. The first thing they do when they want to know something is: turn to Google. This group is easier to reach via social media rather than cell phones. They thrive on instant communication and own a smartphone for constant access to the Web.

So how can people from these two groups work together? How can digital immigrants teach digital natives and vice versa?

Some digital immigrants surpass digital natives in tech-savviness, but there is a belief that early exposure to technology fundamentally changes the way people learn. The adoption of digital technology has not been a unified phenomenon worldwide. There are a lot of opportunities where they can learn from each other, and where the generations feed each other knowledge. Collaboration is key because digital immigrants are those who invented technologies and systems that digital natives today use fluently. It is important then, to have a variety of people with a variety of abilities and experiences. Teachers must develop lessons on horizontal solutions. Embracing all technology leads to a broader understanding of the problem. As digital natives are driven by productivity, their working style may seem competitive, so incorporating more value in the process may be a good strategy.

Learning from the natives

From the natives, immigrants can learn to be more open and willing to engage with learners of differing backgrounds. They can learn from the natives how to sift through and focus resources, which are aplenty and are not as overwhelming for the native. They can learn to scale learning and create what is possible.