Digital Natives

The term digital native describes a person who has grown up in the information age. Often grouped into Millennials, Generation Z, and Generation Alpha, these individuals can consume digital information and stimuli quickly and comfortably through electronic devices and platforms such as computers, mobile phones, and social media.

Digital natives are distinguished from digital immigrants, people who grew up in a world dominated by print and television because they were born before the advent of the Internet. These two terms are often used to describe the digital generation gap in terms of the ability of technological use among people born after 1980 and those born before. The term digital native is a highly contested concept, being considered by many education researchers as a persistent myth not founded on empirical evidence and many argue for a more nuanced approach for understanding the relationship between digital media, learning and youth.

Origin

Native–immigrant analogy terms, referring to age groups' relationships with and understanding of the Internet, were used as early as 1995 by John Perry Barlow in an interview, and used again in 1996 as part of the '' Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace''.

The specific terms "digital native" and "digital immigrant" were popularized by education consultant Marc Prensky in his 2001 article entitled ''Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants'', in which he relates the contemporary decline in American education to educators' failure to understand the needs of modern students. His article posited that "the arrival and rapid dissemination of digital technology in the last decade of the 20th century" had changed the way students think and process information, making it difficult for them to excel academically using the outdated teaching methods of the day. In other words, children raised in a digital, media-saturated world, require a media-rich learning environment to hold their attention, and Prensky dubbed these children "digital natives". He also goes on to say that Digital Natives have "spent their entire lives surrounded by and using computers and videogames, digital music players, videocams, cell phones and all other toys and tools of the digital age".

Globally, 30 percent of the population born between 1988 and 1998 had used the Internet for over five years as of 2013.

Conceptualization and development

''Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants'' Marc Prensky defines the term "digital native" and applies it to a new group of students enrolling in educational establishments referring to the young generation as "native speakers" of the digital language of computers, videos, video games, social media and other sites on the internet. Contextually, his ideas were introduced after a decade of worry over increased diagnosis of children with ADD and ADHD, which itself turned out to be largely overblown. Prensky did not strictly define the digital native in his 2001 article, but it was later, arbitrarily, applied to children born after 1980, because computer bulletin board systems and Usenet were already in use at the time.

The idea became popular among educators and parents, whose children fell within Prensky's definition of a digital native, and has since been embraced as an effective marketing tool. 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. However, the concept has been widely addressed in the academic literature since, mainly in education research, but also in health research.

Prensky has since abandoned his digital native metaphor in favor "digital wisdom". More recently, the Digital Visitor and Resident idea has been proposed as an alternative to understanding the various ways individuals engage with digital technology. It is also argued that digital native and digital immigrant are labels that oversimplify the classification scheme and that there are categories that can be considered "undetermined" based from the framework of the previous assignations.

The critique of Prensky's conceptualization has resulted in further refinement of the terms. For instance, digital natives have been further classified into three: the ''avoiders'', ''minimalists'', and ''enthusiastic participants''. The avoiders are those who do not depend on technological devices and use technology minimally while the minimalists make use of the trends, although not as often as the enthusiastic participants.

People who were "born digital", first appeared in a series of presentations by Josh Spear beginning in May 2007. A Digital Native research project is being run jointly by the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School and the Research Center for Information Law at the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland. A collaborative research project is being run by Hivos, Netherlands and the Bangalore-based Centre for Internet and Society. The Net Generation Encountering e-learning at university project funded by the UK research councils was completed in March 2010. More recently the Museum of Social Media, launched in 2012, has included an exhibition about "Digital Natives & Friends."

Conflicts between generations

Because many digital immigrants are used to a life without digital technology or may be hesitant to adapt to it, they can sometimes be at variance with digital natives in their view of it. The everyday regimen of work-life is becoming more technologically dependent with advancements such as computers in offices, improved telecommunication, and more complex machinery in industry''.''This can make it difficult for digital immigrants to keep pace, which has the potential to create conflict between older supervisors and managers and an increasingly younger workforce. Similarly, parents of digital natives clash with their children at home over gaming, texting, YouTube, Facebook and other Internet technology issues. Much of the world's Millennials and Generation Z members are digital natives. According to law professor and educator John Palfrey, there may be substantial differences between digital natives and non digital natives, in terms of how people see relationships and institutions and how they access information. In spite of this, the timetable for training young and old on new technology is about the same.

Prensky states that education is the single largest problem facing the digital world as digital immigrant instructors, who speak an outdated language (that of the pre-digital age), are struggling to teach a population that speaks an entirely new language. Digital natives have had an increased exposure to technology, which has changed the way they interact and respond to digital devices.Morgan, 2014 In order to meet the unique learning needs of digital natives, teachers need to move away from traditional teaching methods that are disconnected with the way students now learn. For the last 20 years, technology training for teachers has been at the forefront of policy. However, immigrants suffer complications in teaching natives how to understand an environment which is "native" to them and foreign to immigrants. Teachers not only struggle with proficiency levels and their abilities to integrate technology into the classroom, but also, display resistance towards the integration of digital tools.Hicks, 2011 Since technology can be frustrating and complicated at times, some teachers worry about maintaining their level or professionalism within the classroom. Teachers worry about appearing "unprofessional" in front of their students. Although technology presents challenges in the classroom, it is still very important for teachers to understand how natural and useful these digital tools are for students.

To meet the unique learning needs of digital natives, Forzani and Leu suggest that digital tools are able to respond immediately to the natural, exploratory, and interactive learning style of students today. Learning how to use these digital tools not only provides unique learning opportunities for digital natives, but they also provide necessary skills that will define their future success in the digital age. One preference to this problem is to invent computer games to teach digital natives the lessons they need to learn, no matter how serious. This ideology has already been introduced to a number of serious practicalities. For example, piloting an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) in the army consists of someone sitting in front of a computer screen issuing commands to the UAV via a hand-held controller which resembles, in detail, the model of controllers that are used to play games on an Xbox 360 game console. (Jodie C Spreadbury, Army Recruiting and Training Division).Public email b November 4th, 2007 by Paul Maunder
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Gamification as a teaching tool has sparked interest in education, and Gee suggests this is because games have special properties that books cannot offer for digital natives.Gee, J. P. (2012). The old and the new in the new digital literacies. The Educational Forum, 76, 418-420 For instance, gamification provides an interactive environment for students to engage and practice 21st century skills such as collaboration, critical thinking, problem solving, and digital literacy. Gee presents four reasons why gamification provides a distinct way of learning to promote 21st century skills. First, games are based on problem solving and not on ones ability to memorize content knowledge. Second, gamification promotes creativity in digital natives where they are encouraged to think like a designer or modify to redesign games. Third, digital natives are beginning to co-author their games through the choices they make to solve problems and face challenges. Therefore, students' thinking is stimulated to promote metacognition since they have to think about their choices and how they will alter the course and outcome of the game. Lastly, through online gaming, digital natives are able to collaborate and learn in a more social environment. Based on the literature, one can see the potential and unique benefits digital tools have. For example, online games help digital natives meet their unique learning needs. Furthermore, online gaming seems to provide an interactive and engaging environment that promotes the necessary skills digital natives will need to be successful in their future.

Implication of technological and media landscapes

Digital Natives vary in demographic based on their region's technological and media landscapes. Not everyone agrees with the language and underlying connotations of the digital native. The term, by definition, makes the assumption that all digital natives has the same familiarity with technology. Similarly, the term digital immigrants implies that this entire age group struggles with technological advancements. For instance, those on the disadvantaged side of the digital divide lack access to technology. In its application, the concept of the digital native preferences those who grow up with technology as having a special status, ignoring the significant difference between familiarity and creative application.

Digital Natives are determined based on their educational and cultural backgrounds as well as their access to technology. As the adoption of digital technology hasn't been a unified phenomenon worldwide, digital natives are not all in the same age group. Self-perception also plays a role: individuals who do not feel confident in their use of technology will not be considered a native regardless of the formally mentioned factors.

Referring to some generations using terminologies such as  "Digital Natives" is made because these groups can create their own culture and characteristics. Here are some of the cultures and characteristics of "Digital Natives":

# They feel familiar with digital devices. 54% of them have a smartphone as their first personal mobile phone. These devices are used for entertainment and as a requirement in educational endeavours.
# They tend to be individualistic.
# They can multitask or focus on a single medium when needed.
# They are realistic. Raised in affluence, "Digital Natives"  think their future is unclear due to the prolonged economic recession and the Fourth Industrial Revolution. This kind of thinking makes them focus more on their reality.

See also

* Digital addict
* Digital phobic
* ''Homo Ludens''
* Information Age
* Information society
* Internet age
* Online identity
* Social Age

References

Notes

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* Marc Prensky
On the Horizon
(MCB University Press, Vol. 9 No. 5, October 2001)
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* Shah Nishant and Sunil Abraham, Digital Natives with a Cause? (2009
available online
* White, D.S. and Le Cornu, A., 'Visitors and Residents: A New Typology for Online Engagement', ''First Monday'', Vol 16 No 9, 5 September 201
available online
* Rojas, Viviana. "Communities, Cultural Capital and the Digital Divide" Media Access: Social and Psychological Dimensions of New Technology Use. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
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* Forzani, E., & Leu, D. J. (2012). Need for digital technologies in primary classrooms. The Educational Forum, 76, 421–424.
* Gee, J. P. (2012). The old and the new in the new digital literacies. The Educational Forum, 76, 418–420.
* Hicks, S. D. (2011). Technology in today's classroom: Are you a tech-savvy teacher? The Clearing House, 84(5), 188–191.
* Morgan, H. (2014) Using digital story projects to help students improve in reading and writing. Reading Improvement, 51(1), 20–26.
* Morgan, H. (2014). Maximizing student success with differentiated learning. The Clearing House, 87(1), 34–38.
* Parker, J., & Lazaros, E. J. (2014). Teaching 21st century skills and STEM concepts in the elementary classroom. Children's Technology and Engineering, 8(4), 24–27.

Further reading

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External links

* Debate o
Digital Native
* EDUCAUSE 2007 Podcast
Tomorrow's Students: Are We Ready for the New 21st-Century Learners?

Commercial Media Viewing Habits: Digital Natives versus Digital Immigrants
- Graduate Thesis Paper

Video experience on a 20-month-old baby who discovers a touchscreen

Ongoing research project 'Digital Natives with a cause' being conducted by www.cis-india.org in India

Digital Learners in Higher Education research project

Net Gen Skeptic
– a blog that tracks the net generation discourse.


– a museum that includes scholarly articles on digital natives and the impact of social media.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Digital Native
Cultural generations
Demographics
Digital divide
Information Age
Information society
Educational technology
Internet terminology
Technology neologisms
Postmodernism
2001 neologisms