"It's Complicated"

In Danah Boyd's book, "It's Complicated", she explores the complications of assuming today's youth are inherently digital natives, whereas older people are considered digital immigrants. I believe that to a degree this is true. Young people today are born into a world where they are surrounded by technology and media and grow up with a "twitch speed" mentality. Whereas in past generations people took the time look information up in a book, or write each other personalized letters, now most people "google it" or send a quick email or text, expecting an immediate response. However, just as with learning a language or culture you cannot acquire all of the necessary skills some of them need to be taught. Especially when it comes to safety on the internet or higher level skills, such as coding and programming. So while some skills are acquired as part of technological culture, such as speed, interconnectedness, or parallel processing there are also skills that can be learned through interaction, practice, and instruction.

I also think there is a socio-economic component to this. People who have access to use computers, tablets, or smartphones at home have more time to "play" and discover how to use various tools. However, there are both children and adults who are lacking in this free time to discover and learn new technology. As a teacher of emergent bilinguals, especially in an inner-city neighborhood, I have seen this first hand. I have had new arrival students who are expected to keep up with a demanding online curriculum in English, when they have never seen or used a real keyboard before. Not all children are growing up exposed to this technology revolution, some are struggling to keep up just as much as their parents are. Here is an infographic that shows some of the digital divides between who uses the internet and how.

Finally, although I don't feel like being a digital native vs a digital immigrant it is as simple as age, there is a relationship between the terms and how people are able to relate to digital technology and media. I do feel as though learning about technology is learning a new culture. There is a lot of language that is unique to various forms of technology and coding, and there is a new communication system. A friend of mine comment recently on how an older woman said look at those kids just looking at their phones and not communicating, but what she didn't know was that they were texting and sending pictures and communicating in a way that was completely different to her. So I think there is a lot of communication barriers between the new and the old ways of doing things, and there is a lot to be learned.