Threats to the notions of digital immigrant/native
I think both of my posts about the oldest digital native and the youngest digital immigrant i know threaten the notion of these terms. They both go against what Prensky says about these categories and therefore threaten his theory.
I do not think that you have to be under 25 to be a digital native, you can be any age as long as you have the thirst for knowledge and the desire to learn new skills in new technology. Also, i don't think that just because you are young and born in this generation it means that you have to have the skills to use new modern technology.
I think this theory should be made broader as i believe age shouldn't be such a significant factor, and there should be more categories instead of just two terms to describe the whole of society.
8 comments:
I completley agree with your point about the age category being all worng! I think it depends on the individual and not about a specific group of ages. As i have said in my blog, my nan and grandad know so much about technology, its my younger cousin who is clueless when it comes to technology! So this just proves Prensky's comment as wrong!
Who would have thought Prensky's theory could be argued against so much!!
even though i do agree that age is not the only factor that affects the digital immigrants, i do think it is a SIGNIFICANT factor. and the one that most affects who are digital natives.
I would say more of the older people i know are digital immigrants and more of the younger people i know are digital natives.
I also do think its easier for an older person to be a digital native than it is for a younger person to be an immigrant.
Yeah i agree with you there kayleigh and i raised this point in my blog i think it is easier for older people to become digital native because its hard not to get to learn about technology and use it in this day and age. Compared to a young person being a digital immigrant as many children and young adults now use technology as a form of entertainment for them.
yeh I also agree that although age is a main factor in determining the divide,there are others. I've mentioned in my blog about how interest to learn and participate in digital media may also be a factor, although I think this is also due to age, so it keeps coming back to age, although there are many different arguments as well.
I agree age is quite important but I dont think it determines what category you should fit into, that is purely down to particualr interests and things you have in common. I have to ask though if anyone has heard of the tern "digital pilgrims"? this is said to be another category which fits nicely in between natives and immigrants.
Haven't come across that 1, interesting concept....
Lauren,
Yes, I'd agree - both of your examples do seem to challenge Prensky's rigidly defined categories. This has generated a really good discussion too...including an additional term 'digital pilgrims'!
All the best
Emma
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