Do you have a hard time understanding why your 15-year-old niece speaks the same language she texts? Disturbed by her series of ever-changing Facebook profile pictures taken in the bathroom mirror? Are you baffled by the 23-year-old whiz kid who’s taken over your company’s IT department? Better yet, do you find yourself asking your 10-year-old son to set up the networked printer at home? Rest assured, you aren’t the first (nor will you be the last) non-tech savvy person to be completely mystified by the digital generation.
The new buzzwords in education are digital natives and born digital. Unlike most parents and teachers today our children are growing up in a completely different environment. As defined in
Wikipedia, “a digital native is a person who was born during or after the general introduction of digital technologies and through interacting with digital technology from an early age, has a greater understanding it concepts.”
More simply it can be loosely defined as anyone born after the introduction of the internet and will grow up taking for granted smartphones, the Internet, WiFi, and a whole world of integrated technology that is more advanced than some of our sci-fi movies from the 80s.
As parents and teachers we are at a transitional moment in history where often times kids know more about the digital environments than adults. Tectonic shifts are currently happening in technology that are worth reflecting on as your elementary student grows up in this new and ever-changing environment.
The book
Born Digital: Understanding the First Generation of Digital Natives is written by two members of Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society and their goal is to demystify the lifestyles, interactions, and behaviors of youth who belong to this generation of “digital natives.” The big message of the book is that digital natives have the power to express themselves and affect change through digital technologies. However with that power comes responsibility.
Although the book deals with many of the positives of technology what I want to focus on here are three of the main problems facing our digital natives as they grow up and ways we as parents and educators can help them navigate through these situations. Time and time again, the authors fall back on education as the key to lessening the disconnect between the Digital and Analog generations. Educators and parents must educate themselves on these issues, and involve digital natives in that conversation. There’s a conversation, not a lecture, that needs to take place in order for all parties involved to be more at ease in this rapidly changing world.
Impact of an Online Identity
(Digital Footprint)
Teaching Digital Natives
to be Digital Citizens
Information Overload
