Digital Natives & Digital Immigrants

Marc Prensky's idea of digital natives and digital immigrants is fascinating. According to Prensky, digital natives are those who have spent their entire lives surrounded by and using technology-from video games, to TVs, to Internet, to cell phones. Digital Immigrants, he says, are those who were not born into the digital world. Our family got our first computer when I turned 12 but we were one of the few families among my friends that had one.

After reading his articles on the topic ( here & here), I determined that I'm a Digital Native because I grew up surrounded by technology. However, I have some characteristics of a Digital Immigrant, at times, too. I print out all readings from my courses, unless they are over 25 pages. I also print papers and edit to edit it rather than just editing it on the screen. 

I felt very frustrated at the beginning of this online course because almost everything was new to me. I was forced to challenge myself into new technologies that I'd never used before and honestly had very little interest or enthusiasm to do so. However, as time has gone by, I've realized how this digital immigrant in me needs to change for the benefit of my future students. After all, they will need me to incorporate technology into my teaching.

I think part of my frustration with this course was the fact that I didn't know how to use many of the new technology that was introduced. And I think this goes along with not being able to "keep up" with technology. I feel it all moves so fast and you blink your eyes and something new has come out. 

  I am 31 and took quite a few years between my bachelors and my master programs. when i started my master program, I had no idea was google docs was. I felt like I had taken a few years off and suddenly was so far "behind" everyone else in terms of technology.

I disagree that Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants is a generational thing. Instead, I believe it depends on the person. I know plenty of people my parents age who don't have a digital immigrant "accent." I also know a few people my age, in my social group, who don't have a computer or even a smart phone for that matter. 

I completely agree with this PBS Video that says that computers are a privilege that not everyone has access too. People from low-income families who grew up the same time that I grew up do not know how to use much of the technology that I do. And I do not consider myself to be "tech savvy" at all.