This Website doesn't criticise the concept of digital immigrants, rather it expends on the concept by including other 'new age' terms such as 'screenagers' and 'Generation D', although the author does make the point that the divide between digital natives and digital immigrants are more than just about age, it can also be about class (poor people may not own a computer) and location (e.g. Third World Countries).
I only agree with this to a certain extent, because while it will obviously make a difference for those living in slums in Africa (!), the same can't always be applied to class. Particularly now that libraries etc offer the internet free of charge, and even if someone may not own their own computer, it doesn't mean they won't have knowledge of it (as long as they go to school, they will be surrounded by some form of new media). I suppose it all rests on whether we are talking about wealthier countries like the UK and USA, or as the whole world? Because it differs so much from country to country, it's hard to 'put a stamp on it'.
I think the issue here is that there are different levels of nativism. Some people will be surrounded by the latest technology much more than other people of the same age. It may be easier to think...Where will digital nativism be in 30 or 40 years from now? Will it be so widespread that more people will fall into that category? At the moment people seem to at different levels, and this needs to be taken into account before labelling people 'natives' or 'immigrants'
If Prensky's notions have any purchase, it is for those kids who are born into an e-mail/Iphone using broadband household with WII for the little-ones and GTA for the older (boys) -or the equivalent in the early 90s (remember my criticisms of Turkle?)
ReplyDeleteFundamentally it's about 'becoming digital' without effort -and without really realising it. We can all become functionally digitally literate -with effort and practice. Prensky's point is that many (esp. boys) no longer relate to anything that doesn't approximate the form of a computer game (and since this has been extended to other digital forms -like chatrooms etc.