“Digital natives?”
#CI4312
The integration of digital technology has made significant impact in our society as it impacts everyone despite their age. Because our youth is growing up with digital technology present everywhere, there are certain labels that they are receiving. Age has been formerly considered a predominant factor in the succesful engagement with digital technology and the internet because unlike those who are learning this technology later on in life, our youth is growing up with this digital engagement early on. This is important because the youth is getting more digital skills and understanding the technology at a younger age. In this week’s video, David White explains how if you grew up with technology then you are considered a digital native, whereas if you did not grow up with technology, then you are considered a digital immigrant. The video explains how though the youth have this digital experience, they still have skills to learn that will help them have a positive experience with technology. These digital literacies are very important for every digital user to learn. It is very important for younger generations to learn digital literacy skills because there are many online dangers that can have negative effects on anyones online identity and how one distributes information. By becoming educated in digital literacies, not only will you have positive online participation, but you will also share that with those you interact with.
I would consider myself a digital native, and a resident in the online world. I believe I am a little bit of both those metaphors. I grew up with some digital technology implemented in my life which gave me certain skills that would place me into the digital native category. I definitely learned, through experience, the positive and negative impacts the internet can have in your life if you do not learn digital literacy skills. I would also consider myself a resident in the online world because the main reason I was using the internet was to talk with friends and to build an online identity with my friends. In the article of Visitors and Residents : A New Typology for Online Engagement,(White & Le Cornu, 2011) it explained how the typology of residents not only meant someone having an online personal identity but with that being able to express themselves. I definitely relate to that part because the best part of talking with my friends online would be sharing funny videos or images with them. I loved that I could express myself by creating content I could share with friends.
In The Internet and Youth Culture, (Mesch, 2009)article also mentioned how youth and the media are these active participants in the internet culture as they create and contribute content online. This helps them build an identity and help them become social in the online world. By becoming an active participant online, the younger generations have these skills that are helpful to their social interactions both online and offline. The article also mentions how by using different online mediums especially with computer use, the younger generations are multitasking. Younger generations are switching from different online activities which have them multitasking a lot. Through computer use, you can access many different media activities that lead to multitasking. I definitely identify with this because when I am on my laptop at work or even at school I am on my email, social media accounts, YouTube, Canvas, and more. I am media multitasking on a daily basis so this is something important to note when seeing how digital technology is with the younger generation.
Overall, the video, and articles assigned this week were very helpful in understanding what “digital native” meant and how there are different metaphors that explain it. As technology advances, there will always be younger generations that are born with more technological advances than before. I am very interested in how future topics of “digital native” will be like.