"There is no doubt that ICT and digital media have had a major impact on the ways in which young children today learn, play, work, and socialize."- Rachel Levy (Thomas, 2011, p.151)This quote could be the summation of the whole book in a single line. I like this and with out a doubt I agree with it to the nth degree. I also feel this applies to young adults, as well as older generations. Technology has proved it is here to stay and if a person doesn't want to get left behind, they better just accept it and learn to love it.
Chapter 11:
"These results support the notion that technology is highly assessable and therefore potentially well-integrated into young people's lives."-S. Bennett & K. Maton (Thomas, 2011, p.171)This line is talking about research that was done on digital natives previously mentioned in chapter 11. It is very easy to just look at a young person and think "yep, a digital native who knows all about this new form of technology" simply because they are young and because that seems to be the norm. There are many more factors that contribute to the digital native argument, including an individuals ease of access to and their want to use technology. I agree that there is the potential of technology being well integrated, but that is not always the case.
Chapter 12:
"Among other things, it is not enough to be born on a certain date in history and merely to have access to technology"- J. Palfrey & U. Gasser (Thomas, 2011, p. 189)Again, I think this hits the nail on the head with how people make the assumption a person is a digital native based solely on their year of birth. Just because someone is born after a certain date and has access to what seems like endless information at their fingertips, that does not mean that they know all about it and utilize it to it's maximum potential. It's not true nor fair to just put that label on all young people.
In the reading, it mentions that 'digital natives' is a subgroup of the population, not an entire generation. I agree with that statement. All people are different, all people learn differently, all people have different likes, and all people utilize the tools that they have in different ways. It wouldn't be fair to an entire generation to lump them together and call them one thing, and it wouldn't be wise for someone to assume it's ok to do so.
The True Meaning
I choose to make this meme because after reading the text in it's entirety, I believe that you can't just simply label someone a digital native because of their age. It is easy for all of us to just make assumptions here and there based loosely on half facts. We just need to remember that we need to know the whole story. And with the term 'digital natives', there is more than what meets the eye.
Resources:
Thomas, M. (Ed.). (2011). Deconstruction Digital Natives: Young People, Technology and the New Literacies. New York, NY: Routledge.
I think that your reflection of your quote from chapter 10 is why you see older and older people joining in on sites like Facebook. My aunt, who swore she would never have a Facebook account signed up a couple of weeks ago. The fact of the matter is that you're right and technology is here to stay. I always tell my students that they need to know how to find information without the Internet (I always say in case something happens like in the show Revolution where all of the power goes out in the world), but in reality, technology is only going to get bigger and bigger, so it is better if we all just accept that notion and learn as it grows.
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