Digital Natives

Digital Native Technological Era

Shanna-kay Clunis

Moneague College Port Maria Campus

Educational Technology

Mrs. Sutherland

February 7, 2014

Digital Native Technological Era

What should we call these “new” students of today? Some refer to them as the N-[for Net]-gen or D-[for digital]-gen. But the most useful designation I have found for them is Digital Natives. Our students today are all “native speakers” of the digital language of computers, video games and the Internet”. (Prensky, 2001)

New technologies have been such a defining feature in the lives of younger generations such that there is fundamental change in the way young people communicate, socialize, create and learn. Youngsters who are born in and to this generation are called “digital natives”. These are person who have been around digital technology for most of their childhood and naturally developing the skills to integrate them in their lives. According to Prensky (2001) this generation cannot remember not having a computer in the home, cannot remember Mom and Dad not having cell phones, cannot remember watching TV without dozens if not hundreds of channels, and even more importantly, cannot remember not having access to the Internet. They are the very first generation to experience all of this as children. Individual who are said have born with a digital DNA. In the most general terms, digital natives speak and breathe the language of computers and the culture of the web into which they were born. While those persons who were born before these technologies were introduced are said to digital immigrants. Digital immigrants will never deal with technology as naturally as those who grew up with it according to Prensky (2001). Since their early childhood digital natives integrated technologies into their lives and developed skills to naturally adapt to them. They have evolved to make digital technologies an intrinsic part of their daily lives and have developed an...