"Digital Native"?

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Wed, 10/04/2006 - 16:02

Jeff Block

"Digital Native"?

Has anyone heard the term "Digital Native" yet? I just read an interesting article in USA Today that talks about this emerging concept ... the idea that some kids are so integrated with their gadgets and technology that they can't envision surviving without it. It's essentially another name for the "Melinnial" generation (the one after "Generation X").

Have it really gotten that bad? How many of you out here would consider yourselves to be "digital natives"?

Sat, 10/07/2006 - 03:22

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Larry Dillon

It is amazing to me how in

It is amazing to me how in all the hoopla and debate these days about the decline of education in the US we ignore the most fundamental of its causes. Our students have changed radically. Today’s students are no longer the people our educational system was designed to teach. Its amazing how slow the schools are to address this situation. It seems kids are born with an ipod or game controller in there hands. I have read that its the untrained child that picks up how to use something as they are like a sponge and sucks up all the input and there little or empty brains process the info. Today’s students - K through college - represent the first generations to grow up with this new technology. They have spent their entire lives surrounded by and using computers, videogames, digital music players, video cams, cell phones, and all the other toys and tools of the digital age. Today's average college grads have spent less than 5,000 hours of their lives reading, but over 10,000 hours playing video games (not to mention 20,000 hours watching TV). Computer games, email, the Internet, cell phones and instant messaging are integral parts of their lives.