The Digital Generation Project. Stephen's Blog - The Autumn of the Digital Native? A meme that I have found particularly irritating in recent years is the myth popularised by Marc Prensky that children who have grown up in the last decade or so - the Millenials - are somehow inherently more gifted and competent in the fluent use of technology, Digital Natives.
And that the rest of us are Digital Immigrants - strangers in the strange land of the Internet and technology. Setting aside the issue that many people I know, older than 35, were responsible for the creation of the Internet as used by these so-called Natives here in New Zealand. My experience with the current younger generation (courtesy of nephews and nieces) is that they happily bounce from game to game or web site to web site, but they have no understanding of how any of it works, nor any special gifts in their use of it. The first myth is that the current generation can simultaneously text, watch TV, read and learn. And as for the skills in using tools like Google, and social networking tools for life?